Identity Crisis
by King in Yellow
Summary: Our lives change when we leave high school. Our understanding of who we are, and who our friends are, will change as well. Kim has trouble adjusting to new realities. But if it is hard for Kim it is far worse for both Shegos. Not Best Enemies universe.
1. Things Are Seldom What They Seem

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names are property of their respective owners.

**Things Are Seldom What They Seem**

"So why does Global Justice want to see us?" Ron asked as he and Kim boarded the GJ VTOL craft at the Middleton airport.

"I'm not sure," Kim admitted. "But Dr. Director said it was important-"

"Strap yourselves in," the pilot called through the open doorway to the cockpit.

"Can we go back and look for my stomach," Ron groaned as they set down outside Go City seventeen minutes later. "I think I left it somewhere over Albuquerque."

"We didn't fly over Albuquerque," Kim reminded him.

"I know," he sighed. "It was supposed to be a joke."

"Well it wasn't-" Kim began as they climbed from the craft. She stopped at the sight of a young man in a red and black uniform.

"Kim! Ron!" he called, "about time you got here."

Ron waved cheerfully, "Hey… Uh, what do we call you?"

"Wego is fine."

"But aren't you all Wego?" Kim asked.

"Yeah."

"Must be confusing," Ron muttered.

On the ground Ron and Wego eyed each other, "So why are we here," they asked.

"Jinx, you owe me a soda," Kim exclaimed.

"Huh?" the Wego wondered.

"I think one of us has to say it," Ron told Kim.

"Over here," a driver called, holding the door of a van open.

"They brought me out to meet you in this," Wego explained as they got in and buckled up.

Twenty-five minutes later they parked and their Global Justice driver led them into a warehouse. Three stomps on a nondescript tile and a section of floor slide away, revealing a long stairway. "Be my guest," he told them, gesturing down - the first words he'd said since asking them to enter the van.

Lights were on and half a dozen men and women in Global Justice uniforms and four men in white lab coats were examining, gathering, and crating some of the various devices strewn around the large area.

To one side Betty Director tapped her foot impatiently. "You didn't get here very fast," she complained to the driver.

"Fast as I could with traffic," he answered defensively. "Pilot was late getting Ms. Possible and… the blond kid here."

"Follow me," she told the clueless trio and led them to the other end of the long room.

"What's this?" Ron asked, hurrying to keep up.

"Early Drakken lair," Dr. Director answered. "Maybe the first Drakken lair."

"Why are we here?" Wego wanted to know.

"In a minute. I really wanted… I think you need to see something we found."

She led them into a dark, cold room and called, "Lights!"

Apparently someone was waiting for Dr. Director's order, but once the eerie green light went on the three saw nothing but a large glass cylinder in the middle of the room. A figure floated inside the cylinder, wires and tubes connecting her with the machinery which capped off the tube. Moisture had condensed on the sides of the cold cylinder and the three moved closer to get a better view. Without saying anything Betty handed a cloth to Wego, who wiped the surface. The figure in the solution was Shego… or was it? She wore the distinctive green and black costume, but she looked younger, no more than seventeen or eighteen.

"What…" Wego whispered.

"Who is it?" Kim demanded.

"We aren't sure," Betty answered. "This was how we found her three days ago. It appears to be a suspended animation device." She looked at Wego, "Your sister couldn't divide like you, could she?"

He shook his head, no.

"A clone?" Kim asked.

"Perhaps… Perhaps the original."

"The original?" Wego wondered.

"No way," Ron protested. "Drakken's clones are unstable. If this is original then the one with him would have to be a clone - but he's never made one who could last. Maybe this was an early attempt at cloning."

"How old was your sister when she left Team Go?" Betty asked Wego. "Anything unusual about it?"

"We were just twelve or thirteen… You should talk with Hego or Mego."

"What're you going to do?" Kim wondered.

"We think we've figured out how to turn off the machine and take her out. We'll try that this evening, or perhaps tomorrow morning. We'd like some family here. Kim, we'd also like you here. Shego can be dangerous and you've done better than anyone else facing her."

Hego was there, and the other Wego - or another copy of the same Wego, that was the problem with Wego, you could never be certain - as the GJ technicians toweled the goop off the form now stretched out on a gurney. The brothers whispered among themselves and Kim and Ron watched in wonder as men in lab coats threw switches and a medical doctor checked for vital signs.

After several anxious minutes the doctor raised his arms in triumph and shouted, "She's alive! She's alive!" He grinned at them "I always wanted to say that."

When her eyelids fluttered open the first thing she saw was a large, blurry, blue and black shape leaning over her. She threw her arms around him. "Hego! I knew you'd find and rescue me!" After a couple minutes she let go and took a look at him. "What happened?" She demanded. "You look older?"

"Sis?" a Wego asked timidly.

She looked over and noticed the black and red figure for the first time. And promptly fainted.


	2. See How the Fates Their Gifts Allot

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Any cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**See How the Fates Their Gifts Allot**

The doctors checked the vitals on the young woman with the Shego costume and a minute later she opened her eyes again. "What's going on," she whispered.

"You were found here and-"

"Who's in the Wego uniforms?"

"The Wegos, now-"

"Why do they look so old?" she demanded.

"We're not that old," Wego chimed in.

Shego refused to look at them or say a word to them, her focus remained on Hego. "Wego are twelve years old… Oh, my… What…"

Hego took her hand, "You appear to have been in suspended animation for years. We didn't-" Tears started to well in his eyes "-didn't realize you were gone."

Shego's eyes, which had looked fearful, flashed with anger, "Didn't know I was gone! How could you not know I was gone!"

Kim came to Hego's defense, "There's another woman claiming to be Shego-"

Green plasma crackled around Shego's fist.

"Oh yeah," Ron murmured at the edge of the group, "just like Shego."

"I am Shego!" the girl insisted again, and broke into tears.

Hego hugged the girl and she returned the hug, clinging desperately to her big brother.

Betty Director let the young woman regain her composure before speaking. "My name is Betty Director. I'm head of an organization known as Global Justice. We found you a few days ago, and revived you just now. If you have the strength I'd like to ask you a few questions."

The girl explained she had gone out solo after someone stealing technology. She had traced him to a warehouse, probably this one, and, after a battle with his robots, been captured.

"I always told you not to go out solo," Hego chided her.

"You go out solo."

"I'm stronger."

"I'm faster."

"Well, look what happened to you."

Dr. Director called on the siblings to focus on the story. Shego began again, "I discovered a man named Drew Lipsky had purchased parts used in the robots and traced-"

"Drew Lipsky?" Hego wondered aloud.

"AKA Doctor Drakken," Kim explained, "the blue man Shego works with."

"I do not! And he wasn't blue."

"Sorry, other Shego," Kim apologized.

"Not blue?" Ron echoed. "Did he have a scar by his eye?"

"No, but I popped him in the eye just as something hit me from behind. I must have missed one of the robots."

"Do you remember anything else," Betty continued.

"Not for sure. There were some hazy memories… He put my head in some sort of… I don't know, a machine of some kind. I had, like, an out of body experience… I looked over and saw myself… I kept thinking Hego was going to find me and rescue me."

Hego hugged his sister again. "I'm sorry, Sis, I'm so sorry."

"Brain switching machine," Kim told Betty.

"Excuse me?"

"Drakken had a machine for switching brains. Although if there was no personality in the clone-"

"Assuming it was a clone," Betty reminded her.

"What else could it be?" Kim asked. "But if it had no brain to switch he probably just copied Shego's."

The head of GJ turned her attention to the big man in blue and black, "What can you tell us about Shego leaving Team Go?"

It took him a few minutes to sort out the details from seven years earlier. "She vanished for a few days. I was frantic with worry. Then she turned up. I asked where she had been and she told me to shut up. She was around… three? four? maybe five weeks. All we did was fight. She used, uh, strong language. The fights were getting worse and then she told me where I could put… Um, I don't really think you can shove virtuous thinking there… And she left. We didn't see her again until Kim brought her here to fight against Aviarius-"

"Did not!" Shego insisted.

"Sounds like you may have seven years of history to catch up on in the hospital," Betty told her.

"Hospital? I want to go home!"

"Hospital," Betty said firmly, "we want to monitor your health for a few days."

"Uh, Shego," Hego said softly. "There is no more home."

"No more home?"

"I have a studio apartment now. When Wego-"

"We're in college now," one interrupted. "We share a house with four other guys a couple blocks from campus."

"And Mego is, well, Mego," Hego finished lamely. "We sold the house, divided the money, I-"

Shego broke down again, "No home?"

Hego looked uncomfortable, "I put your share in a trust fund! I'll see you get it. We didn't-"

"I don't want a share! I want a home! I want my family back."

For another few minutes there was silence as Hego comforted his sister. Finally Kim spoke up. "Why doesn't she stay with me for a few days until things get sorted out?"

"She should be in a doctor's care," Betty warned.

"My mother is a doctor," Kim pointed out. "And Shego has stayed with me twice."

"I have not!" the young woman insisted.

"Well, the other Shego."

Betty Director thought for a minute, then smiled at Kim, "That is probably the best solution there is."

"Why do you think I should stay with her?" Shego asked Betty Director.

"Well, to be honest it will take us a little while to check out your story and make sure you aren't a clone programmed to infiltrate Drakken's enemies. If you are some sort of spy Kim is one of the few people who can beat Shego in a fight."

Shego looked Kim over and chuckled, "The clone can't be very good if Kim can beat her."


	3. If You Wish in This World to Advance

Boilerplate Disclaimer: Disney owns all the various characters from the Kim Possible series.

**If You Wish in This World to Advance **

It didn't take Kim long to adjust to the fact the Shego staying at her home was not the Shego she knew. The fact this Shego was younger, slightly younger than herself, served as a constant reminder. Then there were the differences in personalities.

Kim wondered if Shego suffered any sort of mental problems from her time in suspended animation. At times she appeared brash and talkative - her attitude almost a swagger - and at other times withdrawn and almost timid. Kim eventually chalked it up the experiences Shego had undergone. Kim wondered how she would react to waking up and finding seven years had passed.

One thing clearly brought Shego joy, working in the kitchen with Kim's mother. "My Mom and Dad were killed when the comet hit," she explained. "Hego is a saint. He wouldn't let us go to foster homes; he kept us together."

Kim sometimes felt a little jealous and guilty when she got in the house and heard her mother and Shego laughing in the kitchen and went in to find them cooking. While her mother would never say such a thing Kim suspected her mother wished she could be more like Shego. While Kim avoided the dangers of the stove she tried to do more to help in the kitchen.

And Kim constantly took Shego out of the house to meet new people. Shego hung on Ron enough to make Kim jealous there also. She laughed more at Ron's jokes than they deserved. On the other hand, Kim reflected,_ "She hasn't already heard them all fifty times before."_

Shego echoed many of Kim's own opinions. "Tara is a sweet girl, but she's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, is she? And Bonnie… She has some good points, but she is way too stuck on herself."

_"Like you aren't?"_ Kim thought, missing the fact it might refer to her as well.

Monique could keep Shego enthralled for hours. Shego wanted to know everything about fashions and music and celebrities in her missing years and hung on every word the black woman uttered as if it represented divine revelation.

Kim began to feel guilty about the fact she couldn't wait for Shego to move somewhere else. She wanted the interloper out of her house, and away from her mother and friends.

To compound the problem Shego asked Global Justice to create an identity for her so she could attend Middleton High. The cover story attached to the identity explained that 'Candace Young' had been home-schooled, and raised overseas by her parents in the diplomatic corp. With the death of her parents she didn't have any close relatives with whom she could stay. Evaluation testing at the Middleton counseling services indicated she was ready to start her senior year of high school, a half-year behind Ron and Kim in the second semester of their senior year.

At least Kim suffered no pangs of jealousy when sparring with Shego. On their first encounter on the mats Kim put Shego down quickly. "I wasn't expecting you to be so fast," Shego said as she dusted herself off. "I'll be ready next time."

It took Kim an additional four seconds on their second match.

"You're better than I imagined," Shego said as she rose for another round.

By the end of their first afternoon sparring Shego was angry and frustrated enough that green plasma crackled around her hands, but she didn't threaten Kim or try to use it against the redhead. Kim, however, took no chances and called an end to the exercise.

They stopped at Bueno Nacho afterward for two diet sodas.

"How did you get to be so good?" Shego asked.

"A lot of practice, and real fights. Shego… The other Shego is-"

"I hate her," Shego flatly declared. "She and Doctor Lipsky-"

"He calls himself Drakken now."

"Well, she and Doctor Drakken ruined my life. My friends are all out of college now. I can't look any of them up and say, "Hi! I was on ice for seven years. What's new with you?" She stared into the paper cup and stirred the ice and diet cola for a minute before looking up at Kim. "Sometimes I almost wish Global Justice hadn't thawed me out."

Kim suddenly felt pity for the girl and patted her hand. "It'll work out. It's rough now, but once you get caught up and adjusted to everything you'll do fine."

"Thanks, Kim. I really hope you're right."

"I know I'm right."

Shego gave her a wan smile, "So much has changed… Things I don't even realize… Is it any easier for a girl to ask a guy out now than it was seven years ago?"

"I don't know," Kim admitted. "I didn't ask many guys out when I was eleven."

They both laughed.

"I've introduced you to a lot of guys… Who are you thinking about? Josh, the quiet, artistic guy? Felix? Kevin?"

"Ron."

"Ron? Ron Reger?"

"No, your friend Ron."

"My Ron?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is he yours?"

"No, I mean, he's my best friend forever, but we... I mean, you're really hot and Ron is kind of 'Hey, watch me stuff a whole slice of pizza in my face'."

Shego laughed. "I like him. He's funny. And I can be honest with him. He was there when they fished me out of the goop. I don't have to make up any stories or sound stupid if he asks me my opinion on something everyone else knows - or where I was last year."

Shego missed Kim's deep sigh, "I guess you can ask..." Kim and Ron hadn't dated very long and Kim didn't want Shego interfering with Ron, but she felt sorry for the girl.

"Good, 'cause when you said 'my Ron' I sort of-"

"You can ask him," Kim snapped. _"I so want Global Justice to find a place for you and get you out of Middleton."_

A few days later, as the Possibles and Shego ate supper the Kimmunicator beeped. Kim swallowed a mouthful of pot roast, cooked by Shego, and turned it on. "What's the sitch?" she barked.

"Drakken and Shego breaking in to an electronics plant. I've called Ron. GJ has a ride for the two of you."

"Three," came a voice over Kim's shoulder.

"Three?"

"Three," said Shego in a grim voice, "I want to meet the fake."**  
**


	4. A Paradox, a Paradox

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by the Disney Co. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**A Paradox, a Paradox**

"Don't try and take on Shego," Kim warned Shego. "We're evenly matched, and I beat you."

"I've got to take her on," Shego insisted. "She and Doctor Lipsky ruined my life!"

"Drakken," Ron reminded her

"Please, Kim," Shego pleaded. "You have to let me try. I need to fight her."

Kim sighed, "All right, but Ron and I go in first in case there's a trap. We have experience fighting Drakken and Shego."

"I wish you wouldn't call her that," Shego muttered.

"The agents watching the hovercraft report they're still in the plant," their pilot reported as they set down. "I'm calling headquarters to let them know you've arrived.

Shego ran in beside Kim.

"Fall back," the redhead ordered. "Ron and I go in first, remember."

Reluctantly the young woman dropped back. Kim heard loud voices from the warehouse part of the plant and skidded to a halt.

"What resistors did you need again?" Shego called.

"A case of EE56W8v."

"Can't find 'em. How about two cases of the EE56W4v?"

"That's not funny, Shego."

"Neither is breaking the law," Shego shouted.

Kim shot the young woman an exasperated look and pushed her back as she and Ron went in.

"You again," Shego told them sarcastically, "don't you get tired of losing?"

"We'll let you know, if we ever lose," Kim assured her.

Shego tried to push her way past Kim and Ron, but Kim caught her arm to restrain her until she could size up the situation.

"Oh, how cute," Shego laughed, "you've brought a Mini-me. Getting desperate Possible?"

"No, she's someone we found at one of Drakken's old lairs in Go-City."

Ron kept his eyes on Drakken. He noticed the blue man's eyes go wide in surprise at the mention of the old lair.

Shego tore herself from Kim's grasp and launched herself at Shego. The older woman contemptuously threw her aside.

Shego knocked the younger woman into a pallet of shipping cartons on her second attack. Kim moved forward. "She's mine!" Shego shouted and attacked again.

As she rose for the third time Shego's hands glowed with green plasma.

"Ohhh, they gave Mini-me pretty colors," Shego laughed. The plasma thrown at her accomplished nothing. "It's done like this," she said - hitting Shego with a bigger blast of plasma which also accomplished nothing.

"I'm the real Shego," the young woman yelled, attacking again.

"Afraid to fight me," Shego yelled at Kim as Shego hit a wall and bounced, again.

"Stay back, Kim," Shego yelled, but even she realized she was slowing down.

"Kim, stop the little idiot or I may hurt her by accident."

"A real hero never quits," Shego yelled back.

"God, this little fake sounds as dumb as I used to. Hego was always spouting lines like that."

The younger woman attacked again, with a "Don't talk about my brother that way!"

Shego tossed her again, "I'll talk about my brother any damn way I please."

Kim made another move to join the fight and Shego screamed, "No! "

As the younger woman picked herself up off the floor she decided to try another tactic. "Clone!" she sneered, "a clone wouldn't have things like scars, would she?"

"Not unless they made you right," the older replied. "But I don't have any."

"I remembered one the other day. An old one. I must have been five, I was in the kitchen with mom and-"

"Don't talk about my mother!" Shego snarled in rage.

"I'll talk about my mother! I loved her. Mego dropped a glass and I had bare feet-"

"Stop! They must have programmed you pretty well. Did Mego tell you about that? I'd forgotten all about it."

"I've got my scar," the young woman said. "I checked after I remembered Mom screaming and me getting blood on the floor I-"

"You didn't get blood on any floor," the older woman snarled. "I did. So they gave you a fake scar. Big whoop. I'm not taking off my boot to show you three stooges I'm me."

The young woman stood, defiantly facing her older self, "Okay, maybe Mego could have told someone. But who would have told me about note I put in Daddy's casket? Or the lie I told Hego after my date with Van, and as soon as I got into my room I called Cassie and-"

"Stop!" Shego screamed. "Drakken! Where are you?" Her eyes had a wild look, and she appeared even paler than usual.

In the drama of Shego vs. Shego the blue man had escaped.

The older Shego backed slowly up against a wall. "Hold the fake, Kim."

"I'm not a fake!"

"Hold the fake, Kim," Shego ordered.

"What are you going to do?" Kim demanded.

"I'm taking off my boot. I'm going to show your cheap copy the real scar on my foot."

"Shego, come back here," Kim said firmly.

"Don't call her that," Shego shrieked.

"Afraid of the truth?" Shego taunted.

"Hold her, Kim."

The young girl walked back and stood between Ron and Kim, smiling smugly at her older self. "Go ahead, check, Fake."

Keeping her eyes cautiously on the trio Shego stooped and removed her boot. Still watching them, she felt the bottom of her foot. A frown crossed her face. She couldn't feel what she sought. She risked her eyes darting from her foes to glance at the sole of her foot. The glances at her foot became longer as she started to panic. Finally, ignoring the three completely, she sat on the floor, crossing her leg so she could stare intently at the bottom of her foot.

"What do we do?" Ron whispered

"I attack her again," Shego answered.

"No you don't," Kim told her. She looked at the older woman. "Shego? **Shego?**"

The older woman ignored her.

The three approached her cautiously, but even as they moved toward her the older woman seemed to wilt. She collapsed onto the floor and drew herself into a ball, hugging her knees against her chest and failing to respond to anything they said.

"Call Global Justice," Ron suggested to Kim. "I think they can arrest her."


	5. The Law Is the True Embodiment

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**The Law Is the True Embodiment**

"We can't arrest her," Betty Director told Kim, Ron, and Shego. She had flown in herself on the news of Shego's capture.

They stood around the silent Shego. Kim had picked her up off the floor, and a medic had wrapped her in a blanket before Kim sat her on a chair. She still appeared in a state of shock and they weren't certain how much of the conversation she heard or understood.

"What do you mean, you can't arrest her?" Kim asked

"She's wanted in, like, fifty countries," Ron pointed out.

"Eleven, to be precise." Dr. Director sighed, "When we found Shego in Go-City I sent the facts we had to the guys in the legal department. I told 'em to work on the problem from every angle they could imagine. From this one," Betty pointed to the younger Shego, "being a clone to the other, and anything else they could imagine in their wildest dreams."

"And?" Kim asked.

"And, first problem is we aren't sure who or what this Shego is. Even if we assume this Shego is a clone, the most likely hypothesis, the second problem is the legal status of clones hasn't been established. It took some trials in the early days of IVF to establish legal-"

"IVF?" Ron interrupted.

"In-vitro fertilization. You have sperm donors, egg donors, surrogate mothers… Took some court cases to establish legal precedents. Cases haven't happened yet on clones. Then the third problem, if we assume the clone hypothesis, is that if Drakken had brain duplicating equipment he was probably able to do some re-wiring on Shego's memories. Turn her from hero to villain, from loving her older brother to hating her older brother. I wouldn't mind being the defense lawyer in her case - argue that she had no free will and had been programmed to do evil by Drakken. Hell, it's probably true."

"So what can we do with her?" Kim asked, staring at the silent woman seated in front of her.

"She appears to be in a profound state of shock. Psychiatric hospital is probably our best choice. Her legal status isn't clear, but it's clear she's dangerous. Now, I'm not a doctor, but I'd bet there is a fifty-fifty chance that her condition isn't as bad as it seems and she's ready to escape the minute we turn our back on her." Betty looked at Kim, "Ideally we need her in the custody of someone capable of handling her if she is faking, but somewhere medical personnel are on hand to monitor her. A brain surgeon would probably be ideal for-"

Kim sighed loudly, "I've already got a Shego staying with me."

"Yes, but since it appears she is the 'real' Shego we can probably bring her to GJ headquarters and have some psychologists work with her on-"

"Please, Dr. Director," Shego pleaded. "I don't want to leave Middleton. I'm making friends there, I started school."

"But you don't need to be there. And we need to keep this Shego under observation. You're not a security risk, she is."

Ron broke into the conversation, "Well, since Shego isn't a threat she can probably stay with us for a little while, at least until things get sorted out."

Kim could have done without Shego throwing her arms around Ron and giving him a big hug. "Thanks!" she squealed.

Shego lay on the bed in the Possible guest room. She hadn't moved or eaten for two days. Sometimes she grunted monosyllabic answers to questions she was asked, more often she simply ignored the questioner.

Kim kept a close watch on her the first day, waiting for Shego to spring into action. The second day Kim wondered if Shego wanted to lull her suspicions, or if the pale woman was really too depressed to move. The third day her mother ordered Kim to go see Ron.

Kim was torn between wanting to check on Ron and Shego, and fear that Shego might escape while she was gone.

"Doctor's orders," her mother repeated, "Go visit Ron."

As soon as Kim left Anne Possible drew a chair up to Shego's bedside. "And you, come down to the kitchen with me, now."

Shego rolled over without a word, turning her back on Anne.

"I know you heard me," Anne said. "Out of bed, now. A bowl of chicken soup for you - and then you help me make chocolate chip cookies."

"Leave me alone."

"No. You need food. And you love making cookies."

"No I don't!"

"Yes, you do. I know you."

"You don't know me!"

"You loved to work in the kitchen with your mother."

"My mom was a Petri dish, my dad a test tube."

"That's nonsense. Those are your memories. They're real. Now get out of bed!"

"No!"

"Now!"

Kim stayed at Ron's later than she had planned, and was in a foul mood as she headed home. Couldn't Ron see through Shego? No one could be that sweet and nice. Hana appeared to love her, but she was a baby - what did she know? Even Rufus, normally a wonderful judge of character seemed to accept her. _"She's up to something,"_ Kim mused. _"I should never have said she could ask Ron out. She set me up - playing on my sympathy."_

Kim's mood improved when she opened the door to her home and the smell of fresh-baked cookies hit her. "I'm glad somebody loves me," she called.

Her mother called from the kitchen, "Come in, dear."

Kim stopped at the kitchen door and stared in disbelief. Shego sat with Anne Possible at the kitchen table, each with a cup of tea, and an empty plate of cookies between them.

"The next batch will be out in five minutes," Anne assured her daughter. "Shego was so hungry we finished the first batch."


	6. When You're Lying Awake

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are owned by Disney. All registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**When You're Lying Awake with a Dismal Headache**

Shego stayed and ate a couple more cookies when the next batch came hot out of the oven. But she said little and then got up abruptly, "I'm going back upstairs and lying down."

"Please stay," Anne asked, but Shego ignored her and exited the kitchen.

"I expect you to eat dinner with us this evening," Anne called at her retreating form.

"Well, looks like you made a little progress," Kim said.

Anne Possible sighed, "I was making a lot of progress until you came in the door. I don't know what happened. You came in and she shut down."

"Sorry," Kim apologized. "Maybe it's the fact we've fought for so long. I'm not sure how comfortable I am sitting at the table with her."

"Perhaps. But at one point while we were talking she said something about respecting you-"

"What!" Kim asked in disbelief, "Shego?"

"She saw you as an equal, enjoyed the fights you had. Of course, as she tells it she always beat you-"

"Oh, right!" Kim snorted.

"Regardless," her mother said sternly. "You need to try and reach out to her. Go upstairs and talk with her."

"She didn't say a word to me for two and a half days!"

"Well, I got her started talking now, don't let the moment slip away." Anne put three more warm cookies on a plate. "Take these up to her."

Kim knocked on the door, "Can I come in?"

"Go away," Shego called.

"Mom sent me up with two cookies for you. Thought you might still be hungry."

"The cookies are welcome. You aren't."

"We're a package deal," Kim told her, opening the door.

Shego sat up on the bed as Kim came in and handed her the plate, then the redhead plopped down on the chair. Shego stared at the plate for a second then held it out, "Want one?"

"No, they're both for you."

"Peace offering?"

"I, ah… Mom sent three. I ate one on the way up."

They laughed together. Kim leaned back in the chair and Shego ate the cookies, then lay back on the bed.

"So, how you doing, really?"

"You want the truth?" Shego huffed. "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"

Kim giggled slightly. "Seriously."

"Seriously?" Shego lost the smile she'd had briefly and stared at the ceiling. "Try finding out your whole life is a fucking lie. Try being told everything you think you know is fake. Try discovering that you can't even trust your own fucking brain because some blue loon scrambled your memories and morals and everything that makes you who you are. And then tell me how you're doing."

Kim remained silent for a minute, then softly said, "I'm sorry."

Shego sighed. "Not your fault. I want to find Drakken and kill him. I want to go rob a bank after that. But I know he was the bastard who made me want to be a thief." Kim noticed tears in Shego's eyes. "I can't even trust my own mind. I don't know who I am. I'm not real."

"You are real," Kim assured her, leaning forward and taking Shego's hand. "See, I can touch you."

"Doesn't make me real. All my memories are fake."

"They aren't fake. The one's from the other Shego are real memories. They shaped the person you are. You have real memories of the things you've done. Some of your, uh, desires… If you know they're programmed into you, can't you learn to fight them?"

"Do I want to?"

"You want to be a thief?" Kim asked, puzzled.

"Well, doh! It's how my brain is wired, of course it's what I want… But, let's imagine I can isolate those feelings of wanting to commit crimes. Let's pretend I can ignore them. I… Oh, hell, let's take a better example. Drakken probably changed a lot. He… I… Let's look at Hego. Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm thinks he's God. Maybe I can respect him for the fact he worked his butt off to keep the family together. But the man is a pompous jerk! I don't want to go back to worshipping the big idiot."

"Okay, maybe you have grown up and learned things," Kim said reassuringly. "Maybe there is some compromise between worshipping him and hating him."

"Yeah, maybe," Shego sighed. But there are other things where I don't want to…"

"Don't want to what?"

"Never mind. I won't tell you. I need to figure out who I am… If I am…"

"You know who you need to talk with?"

"I'll bite, if you let me… Sorry, who is it I need to talk with?"

"You need to talk with you."

"With me? Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm? The idiot who thinks good will conquer evil because it's nicer? Oh yeah, that will make me want to change my ways."

"Seriously, she can provide you with a baseline, a reminder of your original values. You need to uncover your default mode even if you don't go back there."

"I doubt if she wants to see me. You heard the way she hates me."

"She thought you'd stolen her identity. You're as much a victim as she is."

Shego rolled her eyes, "You and Rebecca have a lot in common."

"Please, I'll talk with her," Kim promised.

"And if she says no?"

"I can beat her in a fight."

Shego grinned at Kim, "Maybe you're more like me."

* * *

Kim had a request after dinner, "Will you let Wade scan you?"

"Scan me? Why?"

"He's scanned Drakken clones before. They were never stable. We want-"

"So I'm a lab rat," Shego said glumly.

"Please," Anne spoke up, "the technology might have medical benefits."

"Okay, where to I need to go?"

"We can do it here, the Kimmunicator has the capability," Kim assured her.

"Do I need to take off my clothes?" Shego asked nervously as Kim contacted Wade.

"No."

"Okay, but that scanner better not see through clothes."

"Thanks," Wade told Shego five minutes later.

"Can you tell anything from the scan?" the green woman demanded.

"That just gathered data," he told her, "may take weeks to get it analyzed."


	7. Climbing over Rocky Mountain

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from Kim Possible are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

** Climbing over Rocky Mountain**

"So, ah, isn't this cozy?" Ron suggested as the four of them shared a booth at Bueno Naco. His tone of voice suggested it was anything but cozy.

Kim's eyes narrowed as she stared at Ron and Shego across the table. Shego was sitting too close to Ron. And Ron wasn't trying to move away from the implied intimacy. Of course, Ron had no room to move away from Shego, but it was the principle of the thing – he could at least try.

Shego stared at Shego. It was hard to believe she had ever been that naïve idiot.

Shego stared at Shego – the fake who had stolen her identity, committed crimes in her name and ruined her life.

Kim opened the meeting, "We really need names for you so we can tell you apart. How about—"

"I won't use Candy," the younger Shego insisted. "That's just my cover story. I'm Shego."

"Well, I'm Shego," the other insisted.

"Is one of you willing to be called something else?" Ron asked.

"No," they chorused.

"We could call one of you by your real name," Kim suggested.

"No," they agreed.

"We're making progress," Ron said cheerfully. "I'll bet you two didn't think you'd agree so much."

"I've got to protect my secret identity," Shego explained.

Shego snorted, "She has three identities. The only identity I have is Shego, so I'm not giving it up."

"Well, I was Shego first!"

"Yeah, but you weren't Shego until you were twelve. You've been Shego less than half your life. I've been Shego since day one. Hell, I've been Shego longer than you have."

"Please don't use language like that. It isn't proper," Shego corrected Shego.

"What language?" Shego asked.

"That one word."

"Hell?" Shego asked.

Shego nodded.

Shego gave a wicked grin, "Okay, no Hell. How about damn? Shit? Son of a—"

Shego covered her ears in horror. Kim nudged Shego in the ribs with her elbow, "That's enough. You don't have to give her George Carlin's list."

"Oh, I hadn't even started on Carlin's list," Shego reminded Kim smugly.

Kim fought the urge to smile, "Look, we've already established you two have more in common than you want to admit. You two need each other."

"I don't need her!" Shegos declared loudly.

"Stereophonic Shego," Ron chimed in, "cool!"

"Shego, you've lost seven years. Shego can fill you in on what's happened better than anyone else." Kim turned to the woman beside her, "And Shego, you know Drakken played with your mind - who you are. Shego can provide a starting point to explore who _you_ are and what comes from Drakken."

"I'm not going to be Pollyanna there. I'm not going to cringe if someone says Hell."

Shego tried hard, but not successfully, to avoid cringing when Shego said Hell. "You said you wouldn't say that."

"I lied. Get over it."

"You don't have to be Ms. Go again… But she had her good points. I liked her. I–"

"Did you?" Shego interrupted. "Did you really?"

"Yes," Kim told her. Shego gave Kim an odd smile the younger woman didn't understand. The redhead continued, "Look, you're older. You've learned things. You don't have to go back exactly the way you were."

"And what's wrong with who I am?" the younger Shego demanded.

"Nothing," Ron said, "nothing at all." Kim didn't like the way Ron said it, or the smile Shego gave him.

Kim continued, "But in a few years you don't expect things to be exactly the same as they are today, do you?"

"No," Shego sighed, "I want things to change. I just don't want to end up like her."

"Well, if she doesn't have to be you, you don't have to grow into her either," Kim reminded her. "You are two individuals who share a lot of memories and a lot of personality–"

"No we don't!" they interrupted. They stared at each other for a second, then gave each other a nervous smile. "Look," they said together, then stopped.

"Me first," the older Shego said. "I may not like you, Pollyanna. But Kim's right. I need you. I've grown up. I like a lot of what I am and don't want to change it all. But parts of me aren't me. I want to figure out what Drakken did to me and fix it… Well, some of it."

Kim looked at the younger Shego, "She's willing to try."

Shego sighed, "Okay, I guess it's not your fault you're an evil fake. I've lost a lot. And… And I probably need you too, to help me understand what's happened and so I don't sound like a complete idiot in—"

"I'm good," Shego interrupted, "but I don't do miracles."

"Shego," Kim hissed and nudged her in the ribs with an elbow, "behave!"

Tension eased slightly around the table and they chatted for another hour or so before business picked up and Ned's glare let them know they needed to order more food or vacate the table for paying customers.

As they got up Kim heard Shego remind Ron softly, "You aren't allowed to tell her my real name."

"But you can trust Kim," Ron protested, "She's my gir– She's my best friend!"

_"I've got to get Shego out of Ron's house,"_ Kim thought. "This would go a lot faster if Shego spent more time with Shego. It would be a little crowded, but why doesn't Shego move back to my house?"

Shegos looked at each other, "No!"

_"Great, easy to find things where they agree to disagree. Now we need to find where they can agree to agree."_ Kim wondered if she could take Shego into her confidence and share her concerns about Shego and Ron. Maybe Shego could even be her ally against Shego. Kim shook off the idea. She needed to get Shego to work with Shego, not sow more animosity between them. She wanted them to move back to Go City and share an apartment as sisters, or cousins. Kim really didn't care how they presented themselves to the world – as long as they did it in someplace other than Middleton.

During the next week Kim found one good way to get Shego out of Ron's house. The young woman didn't like losing and wanted to train as much as possible. Shego often went with them. It frustrated Shego that Kim still beat her with ease, but Kim told her she was improving as they practiced. Sometimes Shego would sit to the side and watch in awe as Shego sparred with Kim. Shego wasn't sure if she should cheer for herself when Shego beat Kim – proving it could be done, or cheer when Kim beat Shego proving good is better than evil. In the spirit of fair play she cheered enthusiastically for both and tried to remember their moves. If Shego could do it, then she could learn to do it.

Twice after workouts both Shegos returned to Kim's house and worked on supper together. Kim took it as a positive sign, although their conversation made little sense.

One would begin with something like, "Do you remember that time Mr. Edwards lit the grill?"

And the other one would say, "Of course."

Then they would both laugh. It was almost as irritating as watching Shego with Ron, but not nearly as irritating as imagining Shego alone with Ron.

Sometimes when Shego mentioned someone from their past the older Shego would reply, "He died," or, "Her family moved to Pittsburgh."

"How do you know this stuff?" Kim demanded.

Shego shrugged, "I kept up with local news."

Anne Possible loved coming home from the hospital and finding a wonderful dinner prepared and waiting. She threw an arm around each Shego and hugged them, "I hope you both stay around for awhile."

Shego blushed at the compliment and Shego smirked.

And Kim wished even harder they would both go away. _"They're trying to steal my boyfriend and my mother."  
_


	8. Alone and Yet Alive

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

** Alone and Yet Alive**

"Come on, Kiminy Cricket," Shego called, "I want to go for a walk."

"I can't believe it," Kim groused as they headed downtown, "you found a name even more annoying than Pumpkin or Cupcake."

"But you didn't mind Princess?"

"Not as much as Pumpkin or Cupcake."

"But Kiminy Cricket is meaningful. You're my conscience – the voice telling me right from wrong, who reminds me I'm not supposed to melt the lock on the jewelry store door and empty it out."

"It's an annoying name."

"Okay. Can I call you Sugar-lips instead?"

"No."

"What was that one your mom said they used to call you… Bubble-butt?"

"NO!"

"Beacon of my existence? Light of my life? Wind under my wings?"

"What's wrong with you?"

Shego sniffed, "Some people don't know how to take compliments."

Kim assumed an equally haughty air, "Well, some people don't know how to give them."

"Like any of those better than Kiminy Cricket?"

"No, they're all worse."

"See, Princess, I could be even more annoying than I already am."

"Somehow that gives me very little comfort."

Shego raised an eyebrow and leered at Kim, "Comfort? That's what you want? I be _very_ comforting."

"Now there's an idea which is _really_ not comforting."

Shego smiled, "How do you know you won't like it if you don't try it?"

"I think I deserve combat pay for being your conscience."

Shego laughed, "Hey, it's better than fighting me, isn't it?"

Kim hesitated, "Yeah, I guess it is."

Shego turned serious. "How do you feel about me? We hated each other for so long… I want you to know I don't hate you any more. I really appreciate the way you've taken me in."

"That's okay… I don't hate you anymore. The other Shego is starting to annoy me, but not you."

"So, we're friends?"

"Um, if I say we're friends will you stop calling me Kiminy Cricket?"

"No."

"Is there anything I can do to make you stop calling me that?"

"I suppose hot lesbian sex is out of the question."

"Come on, I know you're straight from the way you're drooling all over Ron."

"So, out of the question?"

"Out of the question."

"Afraid there's nothing you can do to make me stop."

A Global Justice psychologist met regularly with Shego and Shego. On the meeting after Shego's curious HLS comment she had bad news for Kim. "They're both making very good progress there in Middleton."

"Are you sure that intensive treatment in some clinic far away wouldn't be better?"

"There is very little we can be sure of. But our goal is to integrate a young woman who lost seven years of her life and a woman who has suffered severe personality trauma back into society. The fact you provide a non-threatening environment helps speed their transition. Your family and your friend Ron are the best therapy in the world for those two."

"_Non-threatening..."_ Kim thought, _"Which of them do I need to threaten to get them out of here?"_

Although Kim recognized Shego's progress she still relished Wade's call as an excuse to go on a mission with Ron. The two of them had spent no time together since Shego had been discovered. The annoying young woman volunteered to go with them, "Please, I want to get back in action. I fight better now. I can help."

Even worse than her volunteering was that Ron agreed with her, "Can she come with us, Kim? She can be part of our team."

"No, you and I are partners, remember."

"Please, Kim," Shego pleaded, "I need to get my confidence back."

_"You have way too much confidence as it is."_ "It might be dangerous. We need to work out more before I'm comfortable about what you can do. Look, why don't you and Shego help my Mom make dinner?"

"Well… okay."

Kim breathed a small sigh of relief, until Shego threw her arms around Ron and gave him a hug, "Be careful."

"I don't know why Shego couldn't have come with us," Ron complained as they headed back to Middleton, "there was nothing dangerous about a wayward moose."

Kim fought the urge to do something painful to Ron. "Moose kill more people than wolves."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"So why does everyone think wolves are so dangerous?"

"I don't know, Ron."

"I'll bet the mooses have a better public relations firm."

"Yes, Ron," Kim sighed.

There were two cars didn't recognize in her driveway when Kim arrived home, and a distraught young Shego sitting on the front step.

To Kim's disgust she threw herself in Ron's arms, and to Kim's greater disgust Ron made a fair catch. "Shego's sick," she sobbed.

Kim left the touching scene and ran into the house, taking the steps two at a time up to Shego's room. Kim's mom had called in two of her colleagues from the hospital.

"Hey, Kim," Shego called, but her voice sounded weaker. Kim couldn't be certain if Shego really sounded weaker or it was her own imagination. The small, bluish blotches didn't look healthy.

"How is she?" Kim whispered to her mom.

"My hearing is still fine," Shego reported. "I'm not dead yet."

"I don't know," Anne reported. "She complained of feeling warm during dinner. By dessert the first blue spots appeared."

"We've ruled out any sort of allergic reaction," Dr. Wessels reported.

"I've never seen anything like it," Dr. Khalid said, clearly puzzled.

"If you don't say 'hi' to me," Shego complained to Kim, "I'll think you don't love me any more."

"Shut up, I'm worried about you," Kim said, pulling out the Kimmunicator and calling Wade.

"She's crazy about me," Shego informed the doctors.

Anne Possible dropped to her knees and took Shego's hand. "You seem to be getting worse," she said softly. "You're getting delusional."

"I'm trying to be funny," Shego said. "I've always been healthy. I'll get over this. You people act like you're at a wake."

As she spoke a beam of green light came out of the Kimmunicator and slowly scanned the woman in the bed.

When the scan ended Kim demanded, "What does it show?"

"Give me a minute," Wade told her, "I'm going to compare it with the scan I took when she first came."

"How soon will you know something," Kim asked impatiently.

"I won't know until I've looked at the results," he pointed out, "Be patient and I can work faster." He logged off to stop Kim's interruptions.

Seven minutes later the Kimmunicator came back on. Wade looked worried. "What have you got?"

"Not good, Kim. Shego's dying."


	9. If I Were Fortune

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters borrowed from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**If I Were Fortune**

"What do you mean, she's dying?" Kim demanded.

"Widespread cell deterioration. She's exhibiting the classic instability symptoms of one of Drakken's clones."

Kim's throat felt dry, "How long…"

"I'll need more readings to chart progress. Less than a week, I'm pretty sure."

"But… But, you didn't see any signs of instability in her earlier scan… She's been fine for years… How could…"

In the tiny screen on her Kimmunicator Wade shrugged. "I don't know. My best guess is that Drakken had something he gave her to help stabilize her."

Kim glanced at Shego, who'd been listening carefully to the conversation, "Well?" Kim asked.

"He was always cooking. I mean, he never gave me anything and said, 'Here, eat this - your life depends on it,' but it would have been easy for him to slip me something."

When Wade charted the result from his later scans it suggested the end would come soon. He predicted, "Three days - tops. Maybe just a couple - she's going so fast it's hard to predict."

"Is there anything you can do?"

"Sorry, Kim. I don't understand Drakken's technology well enough to figure out his stabilizing formula. And there isn't time."

"Please, Wade, try."

"I'll try, but I don't think there's time."

The doctors left soon after Wade's diagnosis. Although they wouldn't admit he was right his words made as much sense as anything they could discover. Dr. Khalid took a blood sample for further investigation.

Kim hated the feeling of helplessness, she wished there was something she could do. She wished there was something she could say. She hesitated for a moment after the others left, then said softly, "Try and get a good night's sleep," and turned to the door.

"Stay for a minute, please, Kim," Shego requested.

"I don't-"

"Just sit for a minute." The redhead sat down on a chair near the head of the bed. Shego managed a small smile, "Bet you never thought you'd get rid of me this way, did you?"

"I never wanted to get rid of you! Okay, maybe I did want to get rid of you… But not this way. And since we found out what you are… I mean, who you are. I–"

"Thanks for treating me like a person and not a sack full of chemicals."

"That's not what I meant. Of course you're a real person. I meant, now that I sort of understand why you are the way you are. It's not your fault you're a thief, it was Drakken playing with your head."

"I wonder if I've ever been alive."

"Of course you're alive."

"Am I? My past is someone else's memories and Drakken's programming. I'm dying - and I'm not sure I've ever lived."

"You're not just Drakken's programming. And the memories are yours. Our memories shape who we are. You like working in the kitchen with my mom because it reminds you of working in the kitchen with your mother. You–"

"I don't have a mother."

"Yes you do. You can look at the in terms of genetics. She was your mother. Half your DNA comes from her."

"My DNA comes from a test tube."

"No it doesn't. It might have incubated there, but genetically you're Shego every bit as much as she is. Your memories of working with your Mom in the kitchen are your memories."

"Don't know how you can say that."

"It's easy. You remember what you did and–"

"They're not my memories!"

"Yes they are! They're real memories, and they made a difference in who you are. That means they're your memories."

"And Drakken playing with my head?"

"You always had an independent streak. You really mean to tell me you think you did everything exactly the way he wanted you to do it?"

"Hell no!"

"See? He may have influenced you. But you were still your own person."

"You really think of me as a real person."

"I sure do. If I used your vocabulary I'd probably say 'Hell yes'."

Shego gave a wan smile, "You and Rebecca." Shego stared up at the ceiling. She looked like she was thinking and Kim said nothing, waiting for her to speak. "Kim, I wasn't going to tell you something. But, what the hell, I won't be around much longer… I wanted to say I think I love you." There was a silence in the room. Shego looked over, Kim appeared stunned. "Almost told you back when I was staying here as Ms. Go, but thankfully Stoppable kept me from making a damn fool of myself."

"You can't love me."

"What do you mean, I can't love you?"

"You've got to know someone to love them."

"How much do you need to know? Okay, I lusted after you. Is that better?"

"But… But, you're straight."

"She's straight all right. Drakken must have thrown a lot of switches when he programmed me. Probably some kind of a disappointment for him, but his sidekick definitely preferred women… Not that I had much chance of getting out with any in my line of work… I… I always thought you were hot - even back when you were jailbait. The last few weeks here… I am getting to know you. You are... I just wanted to say thanks for everything."

"You're welcome," Kim said softly, not certain how to take the revelations.

"Could you kiss me?"

"What?"

"I've never been kissed. Little Miss Innocence has been kissed more than you might think – a lot more than Hego wants to think. I… I told you, didn't have many chances in my line of work. But those memories of being kissed… They aren't mine."

"But, I–"

"You don't have to mean it. I'll take a pity kiss. I just… Please."

Kim hesitantly stood and moved over to the bed. With one hand she brushed her hair back over her shoulder to keep it out of her face as she slowly leaned over. Her lips met those of the older woman. Kim felt slightly uncomfortable, but she could sense the desperate longing in the pale woman and responded as best she could.

"Thanks," Shego said when she broke the kiss. "A lot saltier than in my fake memories."

Kim fled back to her own room in tears.


	10. In Enterprise of Martial Kind

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. And cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**In Enterprise of Martial Kind**

Shego felt worse in the morning, the blue splotches had grown. Kim took a breakfast tray to her room. Ron and Shego came over while Kim was in the room. Even Shego had sympathy for Shego.

While they were there Kim called Wade, "Any luck?"

"I told you, there's no way I can figure out Drakken's stabilization formula. I'd need to know the process he used in the first place, and I don't. And even if I did it would still take weeks - and that's if I'm lucky."

"Why don't we just get some from Dr. Lipsky?" the younger Shego asked.

"Wha?"

"I mean; he must have some around - right? If it was something he needed to keep giving her he either needed to have it prepared or it must be easy to fix."

Ron and Kim looked at each other, then Kim barked into the Kimmunicator, "Hear that, Wade?"

"Heard it."

"Can you-"

"Don't know. But got a better chance of finding him than finding the stuff to stabilize her."

Wade set to work on his computers. "Good job," Ron complimented Shego.

Kim felt stupid. She was so accustomed to Wade being able to do anything she hadn't even considered other options. Overconfidence in Wade's abilities might have extended to Wade himself - he hadn't thought of looking for Drakken either.

By the early afternoon Wade's prediction of three more days began to look too optimistic; Shego was sinking fast. Wade called in late afternoon. "I think I've found Drakken."

"How fast can you have a ride for us?"

"On its way."

Kim looked at Ron and Shego and nodded, "You're going with me?"

"Absolutely!" "Sure thing, KP."

"Take me with you," the other Shego asked from her sickbed.

"No, you're not strong enough. We'll find the medicine and bring it back to you."

"Take me with you," Shego repeated weakly. "I might not be alive when you get back."

Inattention to detail had always been Drakken's greatest weakness. He had the big picture, or the grand idea, but never paid enough attention to the small details to make it happen. They reached his new lair with less trouble than anticipated, which made them suspect a trap. Knowing the older Shego was in no condition to fight the three teens ran forward, other than three henchmen who turned and ran at the sight of them they faced no opposition. They found Drakken, hunched over a table in his new lab.

"Stop whatever you're doing," Ron shouted.

Startled, the blue man looked up, "Sheg–" he started to shout, then realized he did not have a Shego coming to fight for him. He glanced at the ray gun he was working on. It wasn't ready for testing. He considered running. He looked at the trio in front of him, they looked faster. _"Why is there never a good self-destruct switch around when you need one?"_ he thought.

"Where's the formula you gave Shego," Kim demanded.

"What are you talking about?" he responded.

"The one that keeps her stable."

"Don't know what you're talking about."

"She's suffering some kind of breakdown. You have to help her!"

He shrugged, "Sorry, no idea."

"They'll charge you with murder," Ron suggested.

"Shego is right there," Drakken reminded them, pointing at the teen. "My clones dissolve into sludge – no way a jury would convict me. Now, perhaps if you agree to let me go I might, emphasis on might, remember the formula – if you agree to never bother me again."

Kim hesitated and Drakken smiled, "A do-gooder like you wouldn't let even your worst enemy die like that," he told her.

The older Shego had arrived in time to hear some of Drakken's comments. She looked ghastly as she staggered into the lab, "Leave him to me," she panted. "I'll kill the bastard."

Drakken paled, "No, I–"

"Sounds fair to me," the younger Shego suggested.

Shego coughed, "I'll be a sludge in a day or two, no need for a trial."

"I don't like the sound of this," Ron said nervously.

Kim cast her vote, "I'll agree with the Shegos. Come on, Ron, we're leaving Drakken alone with Shego."

Ron hesitated. He hoped Kim was bluffing. He really, really hoped Kim was bluffing. "Okay," he agreed and turned for the door.

"No!" Drakken screamed in terror. "I have the formula… I must have the formula." He began to frantically search the lab table, throwing items of no value. "Here!" he gasped with joy and held up a small glass vial, "here it is!"

Shego lunged at him, and grabbed the vial.

"No!" he shouted as she uncorked the bottle and emptied it into her mouth. "That's too–"

The sick woman shuddered, and collapsed.

"What happened," Kim demanded.

"It was concentrated! There were hundreds of doses in there. In that level it's toxic."

Ron and Kim ran for Shego.

"No pulse," Kim told him. "Do CPR."

Ron knelt by Shego, placed his crossed hands on her chest and said a little prayer of thanksgiving for the hours Mr. Barkin had made them practice in health class.

Kim administered mouth to mouth.

After several anxious minutes Ron was about to give up when Shego coughed weakly and began to breathe on her own.

"Watch her," Kim barked and pulled out her Kimmunicator to call for help. After placing the call she turned to Ron, "How is she?"

"I'm not deaf, you know," Shego mumbled. "And I feel like shit."

"At least you're alive," Kim pointed out.

"Hey," Ron asked, "Where's Drakken? And Shego?"

"You stay with Shego, I'll find them."

Kim didn't need to look far. Drakken lay face down on the floor, his arms twisted behind him by the young woman sitting on his back, "Seven years," she kept repeating, "you stole seven years of my life. I wish she had killed you."

Kim hoped Shego didn't mean that and was only saying it frighten Drakken. If so it was certainly effective - he seemed genuinely glad to see Kim. On the other hand, Kim reflected, if someone had stolen seven years of her life, ruined her name, and separated her from her own family she might really want to see that person dead.


	11. If I Had Been So Lucky

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. All registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**If I Had Been So Lucky**

"What's the verdict, Wade?' Kim asked as they brought Shego back to Middleton from the hospital where she'd been taken the week before.

"I'm not sure. I've analyzed the formula and can make more. But it's toxic - lethal in the amount she drank. She must have built an immunity by taking small doses for years."

"She's alive, and looks healthy," Ron commented.

"Really healthy," Wade agreed. "This is preliminary, 'cause I need more research, but there's a chance that mega-dose burned out whatever imperfections in the system caused her problems."

"Cut out the talk about imperfections," Shego growled. She hesitated briefly, unsure of Wade's meaning, "Did you say I might not need that medication again?"

"Possibly. I'll make some for you," Wade answered, "but yeah, you may never need it again. You may be as normal as the rest of us."

Shego looked at Ron and snorted, "From where I sit normal looks over-rated. But you really think the Blue Fairy waved her wand and made me a real, live boy?"

"Yep, that's what it–"

"Whoa," Ron interrupted, "Drakken's gay and Shego's a guy now?"

"Pinocchio," Wade sighed. "Nineteenth century story by Carlo Collodi. You might have seen one of the movies–"

"How do you remember all that stuff?"

"I'm a genius, remember? Anyway, long story short. Pinocchio wasn't real at first, but in the book he learned moral values and the Blue Fairy rewarded him for his goodness by making him a real boy."

"Right, so you're saying that after she drank that stuff she got a… Her plumbing got changed?"

"No, Ron," Waded tried to explain, "I'm trying to say–"

"'Cause that would be easier to believe than the reward for goodness part."

"How about the fact I'm not ripping you into four pieces right now?" Shego snarled. "I'm showing a hell of a lot more moral restraint this minute than you deserve."

"Calm down," Kim told her in a soothing voice, "he's just kidding." _"I hope."_

A few days later a courier delivered a package to Shego, who found her own new identity papers inside.

"Vegas Greene? What in the hell kind of name is Vegas Greene?" Shego groused as she had a snack at Bueno Nacho with Shego and Kim after a training session. "I'm going to find the jerk at Global Justice in charge of new identities and stick my foot up his ass. Vegas Greene? I sound like a stripper. And Candy Young?" she said looking at Shego. "You sound like a porn star."

"Can't one of you just use your real name?" Kim asked.

"I want to, but I'm too young… And no way I want her to use my name."

Shego shrugged, "I've never really used it. I've always just been Shego."

"What kind of a name is Go, anyway?" Kim asked.

"Go?"

"Is that your last name? Is it short for something? Gomez? Goldman? Gosselin?"

Shegos' jaws dropped, "You thought that?"

"Well, yeah."

Both Shegos laughed hysterically. "Hego picked Go," Shego explained.

"'Cause we lived in Go City."

"I mean, if Captain Middleton swooped out of the sky to stop a bank robbery—"

"You wouldn't look in the phone book for a Steve Middleton or something, would you?"

Kim blushed, "I've never had a secret identity. I didn't think about what it–"

"God, you're as naïve as she is," the older Shego chuckled.

"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Shego protested.

Shego shrugged, "If the flue shits…"

Kim normally tried to keep Shego from fighting with Shego, but under the circumstances she remained silent.

Graduation came and went. Kim planned to attend Miskatonic in the fall. Ron's academic performance kept him from the schools which had accepted her, but his football performance brought in scholarship offers and he chose Go University because it was closer to home and family – not that he'd have much chance to see them during the football season.

To Kim's delight Monique would be a short drive away, at Harvard. Bonnie would also be at Harvard, but Kim figured the campus was large enough she could see Monique without running into her rival.

To Kim's disgust Shego had managed to accumulate enough credits that, with a heavy summer school schedule, she could graduate in time to start Go University in the fall. The positive side to that was that her summer classes kept her too busy to interfere with Ron and Kim's missions.

"So, what did the therapist say?" Anne Possible asked Shego as she helped herself to dilled Brussels sprouts and passed the bowl to Jim. "Take some," she hissed at her son – who had attempted to pass the sprouts to Tim without taking any.

"She thinks I'm doing great. Had a talk with the head of Global Justice about—"

"Doctor Director?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, her. Anyway, with Kim going off to school she invited me… Nice phrase, invited. Like I've got a choice. Anyway, she 'invited' me to move into one of their dorms while I continue with the therapist. I think she offered me a job with Global Justice if I pass the head test."

"You, working _for_ Global Justice?" Kim asked in disbelief.

Shego shrugged, "I think she likes the fact I've got a busted moral compass."

Anne was shocked, "She said that? That's appalling."

"She didn't say it, but that's what she's thinking. Therapist wasn't happy with the idea – called it negative reinforcement."

"Everything tastes delicious," James commented. "I don't understand the broken moral compass comment. Justice agents are straight arrow."

"The public faces," Shego commented. "Any outfit like that needs a few people willing to bend rules. They've got this one guy with a stick up his butt—"

"Will Du?" Kim asked.

"Yep. You know him? Tell him he only needs to hand in a duplicate copy of a report when the rule manual requires a triplicate copy and he'd probably die in a hissy fit of moral outrage."

"It sounds wrong." Anne repeated. "I agree with your therapist."

"I've got a fairly narrow skills set, and lying and breaking in to steal things are on the list. I need a job that plays to my strengths."

"I'm still going to write a letter of protest to this Doctor Director," Anne insisted.

"You're welcome to try. She strikes me as a woman who doesn't take advice very often."

Ron left first. "As a freshman I'm not going to get much playing time, but I need to work out with the team."

When she wasn't doing homework the younger Shego spent the rest of the summer moping about how much she missed Ron.

The older Shego left for Global Justice a week before Kim departed for the east coast.

"Going to be weird, not fighting you any more," Shego commented as she and Kim walked around the mall. "What are your plans? Still going to play Kim Possible, Girl Crime-Buster?"

"I'm not sure," Kim confessed. "I don't really know what my college schedule, and there's no Ron to watch my back. I asked Wade to close my website."

"After college? Any plans for that?"

"No… I feel like I could do anything and—"

"Still with that 'anything's possible' crap?"

"It's not silly!"

"I didn't say silly."

"I know what you said."

"You and Pollyanna."

"Well, I feel like I can do anything. I have lots of interests – and I don't have to decide this minute how I'm going to spend the rest of my life."

"So, going to spend the freshman year in drunken debauchery like most of the kids away from the watchful eye of mom and dad for the first time?"

"I thought you said you weren't going to fight me any more?"

Shego looked thoughtful, "Actually, you are the kind of stick-in-the-mud who doesn't have any fun in college. Doofus on the football squad? He won't crack a book this year."

"Just drop it, okay!" Kim snapped.

Shego hesitated for a second. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Giving you hell is just too much of a habit. Kind of weird since I also want to jump in bed with you."

"Can we go back to you giving me a hard time about school? You make me even more uncomfortable with that."

"Fine… Hey, getting back to your own freshman debauchery. If you get invited to any drunken frat parties give me a call – I'll watch your back, keep anyone else from taking advantage of you."

"Anyone else… As in, you'll be perfectly happy to take advantage of me if I get drunk?"

"Absolutely. Figure it's my best chance of getting you in bed."

"Great. Now you've got both topics going I don't want to talk about."

"Cut a deal with you, Cupcake, you spring for ice cream at Molly Moo's and I'll let you pick the topics of conversation for the next half-hour."

"That's the most expensive ice cream in Middleton. Make it an hour."

"Forty-five minutes?"

"Done! Wait a minute… You set me up, didn't you?"

"Played you like a violin," Shego responded smugly. "You and I could make beautiful music together."

"Nope," Kim replied with a smile. "I pick topics for the next forty-five minutes. Ice cream only if you keep your word. And the current topic is, penguins."

Anne insisted on a going away party for Shego the night before she left. James grilled steaks and the Stoppables came over with Shego, who would be leaving in two weeks for Go City and her own freshman year.


	12. When I Go Out the Door

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**When I Go Out the Door**

Freshman year of college can be heaven for some as they discover potential and freedom beyond Mom and Dad's expectations. Freshman year of college can be hell for some as they lose everything they know and need to start over from scratch. And freshman year can be a hung-over blur for some, who will either leave school when the 'rents cut off funding or learn to take classes more seriously.

Kim found her first semester of college hell. She never realized how much she needed her friends and family as a support group until she didn't have them. Ron never had enough time to talk. He was usually on his way to practice, or exhausted after practice. Kim hoped he had more time for his classes than he did for her, although, it seemed to her, that he tended to be vague when she asked him about his course work. She hoped he had equally little time for Shego.

Courses were harder than high school. Kim had considered trying out as a cheerleader, but gave up the idea early. Doing well in classes represented a higher priority for her. Her fellow classmates, on average, failed to impress her. There were some brilliant young men and women who made her feel stupid when she compared herself to them – they had been busy learning in high school instead of fighting evil. But there were too many sons and daughters of the rich and privileged who expected everything to be handed to them. They went to an Ivy League university to have the college name on their résumés rather than an education. Monique voiced the same complaint about Harvard when she talked with Kim on the phone.

Kim traveled up to Boston to visit Monique three of her first four weekends in college and Monique took the bus down once – then class work limited them to phone calls. Kim tried to meet new people in classes, the cafeteria, and her dorm - but the mixers and parties she attended reminded her of Shego's description of drunken debaucheries and she had no interest in providing bragging rights to some jerk for having bedded her. The serious students had little time to spare from their own studies – at least that meshed with her own limited free time – and most of the others seemed too immature to bother with. She made many casual acquaintances, but no friends.

Researching a paper for English Lit. kept her from getting home at Thanksgiving. Even though he was a redshirt freshman and ineligible to play Ron stayed with the team at semester break to help them prepare for a bowl game. When Kim went by the Stoppables to talk with Ron's parents and see Hana she found the younger Shego there, in a Go University cheerleader outfit and with too much information on how Ron was doing.

"Everything's wonderful!" Shego bubbled enthusiastically. School was wonderful. Her friends were wonderful. Hego was wonderful. Kim feared the wonderful list would never end, and considered pushing perky Shego into a wall to find out - but feared that might be wonderful too. Kim turned down an invitation to play Candy Land™ with Shego and Hana by saying she needed to go home to family. "Ask your mom if I can come over and help her in the kitchen," Shego called as Kim went out the door.

Kim hoped that Ron would have more time in the Spring semester with football over. He usually had more time to talk. But twice Shego answered the phone and Ron seemed in a hurry to end the call. Kim also realized she called him a lot more often than he called her and decided to not call him until he called her.

She waited three weeks to hear him ask, "Are you okay? I haven't heard from you."

"I'm fine," she lied, "lots of studying."

"I figured. You take that too seriously. I didn't want to disturb you, but Shego said I should call and—"

Kim hung up. She felt angry, and guilty for being angry. She called Monique, who listened until one in the morning, and then told Kim she had a test at nine and had to get a little sleep.

Her hard work brought Kim a summer in China, on the only internship offered to an undergrad. She impressed the professor, and the two grad students she shared an apartment with in Beijing.

One of her two new grad student friends left for a post-Doc at Oxford that fall. The other woman invited Kim to grad student parties, where Kim felt out-of-place.

Monique's bad news had strained relations with Kim, but the redhead finally drove up to Boston to see Monique and her apartment mate, Bonnie.

"Honestly, Kim," Monique had told her, "she's not that bad. Don't be in a rush to judge."

Bonnie seemed happy to see Kim, and called the guy she had a date with and cancelled so she could go out with Monique and Kim. Kim hoped and expected Monique to tell Bonnie she didn't need to tag along – but the black woman just laughed and bumped fists with Bonnie, "Go Middleton!"

"So, how did you two end up as roomies?" Kim finally asked over cheesecake and coffee.

"We had a couple classes last year," Monique shrugged. "You know, compared with some of the divas on this campus Bonnie isn't that bad."

"Come on," the brunette protested, "I was never that bad."

"Yes you were, Girl," Monique assured her. "You were royal pain in the butt in high school." She turned to Kim, "She's grown up."

"And you haven't?" Bonnie demanded. She turned to Kim, "She's dating much better guys since I took over as her social director."

"That's not—"

"Admit it!"

Monique laughed, "Fine. Bonnie has a talent for finding good fits. I think she should start a dating service or something."

"Want me to find someone for you, Possible" Bonnie offered. "I know a lot of nice guys."

"You? Find someone for me? I don't want to think about what you might try and set me up with."

"That's cold, Kim, you aren't giving her a chance."

"It's okay, 'Nique. She and I weren't friends in high school."

"Yeah, but you and I weren't friends either. Now I feel like we got each other's backs."

"I just…" Kim started. "I don't know. I just don't feel like dating right now. I want to decide what I want to do and finish school."

"She's still in mourning for Ron," Monique explained to Bonnie.

"Monique!"

"What happened," Bonnie asked.

"I think they just grew apart. She thinks he stabbed her in the back or—"

"Monique!" Kim protested again.

"That was what it sounded like to me when you wanted to talk for five hours. You made it sound like he dumped you."

"Ouch," Bonnie said softly. She put a hand on Kim's and squeezed it comfortingly. "Sorry. You two were always so good for each other."

"And I think he'd drop everything and come running if she needed help. But he's grown up. He's not just back-up assist any more. He's stepping out and becoming his own person."

"Life was easier in high school," Kim sighed.

"Can't stay in high school, GF. We all grow. We all change."

"Monique's right," Bonnie seconded. "Look at me. Last year wasn't easy, but I think I'm a better person now."

"You are," Monique agreed.

"Hey, you've changed too. Hope, Tara… Do you talk much with Felix?" Bonnie asked Kim.

Kim looked at Bonnie in surprise, "You talk with Felix?"

"Weird, huh? You lose touch with some friends. Sometimes you want to – I remember how crushed I was when Brick left, now I wouldn't want to see him. Some people you didn't like become friends. And some friends stay your friends – but it's still different. You can't stay where you were. We all grow and change."

"I just want things to be the way they were. I was happy then."

"Bonnie's right, Kim. You can't get old happy back. You got to go for new happy."

In her mind Kim accepted there might be some truth in what Bonnie and Monique were telling her. In her heart she felt like she'd never be happy.

Bonnie called Felix that night. What Ron had told Felix differed so much from what Kim had told Bonnie that the two couldn't make any sense out of what they'd heard.

"We should tell them they need to talk with each other," Felix insisted.

Bonnie hesitated. "I don't know. Kim and I didn't like each other in high school. She may not believe me. Or if everything blows up she'll think I was setting her up or something."

"Please, Bonnie?"

"No. They've been friends forever. They should know they need to talk. If they really are fighting I don't want to get between them. I'm staying out. You talk to Ron if you think it's a good idea."

"I've talked with Ron already… I didn't know what Kim thought. She really said that?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, I don't know what's going on either. I won't say anything to Ron."

Kim flew home to Middleton to spend Spring Break with her family. Kim frowned as she parked her rental car in the driveway, another rental car was already there. Could her mom or dad have had an accident and needed a rental while their car was in the body shop?

"Anybody home?" Kim called.

"Just me!" a familiar voice called from upstairs.

Kim closed her eyes and groaned. She didn't say a word, but as she went up the stairs she stomped loudly to express her displeasure.

Shego stood at the guest room door. "Hey, Princess, good to see you… What's wrong?"

Kim still said nothing and went towards her own room. She deliberately put a shoulder into Shego as she walked past.

"Hey, you bumped me!" Shego complained.

"Get over it."

"What the hell is your problem?"

"You are!" Kim growled, and threw a punch.

The fight was exceedingly short. In a few seconds they were on the hall floor, with Shego's arms around Kim, trapping Kim's arms at her side. The redhead struggled to free herself.

"You're out of shape," Shego taunted. "Or that Global Justice training gives me an edge."

"Let go of me!" Kim panted.

"I kind of like you helpless and in my arms," Shego teased.

Kim struggled harder.

"God, I've missed you Pumpkin."

"Leave me alone."

"That's no way to greet an old friend."

"You're not an old friend!"

"Sure I am. You'll hurt my feelings if you deny it."

"I'll hurt more than that when I get loose."

"Oh, now there's a threat designed to make me turn you loose. I think I'll hold on to you a little longer."

Kim kept struggling.

"Oh, just remembered I stole something from you."

Kim stopped struggling for a minute. "You stole something? What? When?"

"I stole a kiss. You gave it to me because I promised to die. But since I'm still alive I got it under false pretenses. I ought to give it back."

"No—" Kim started to protest, but it was too late and Shego hit her in the mouth with her lips.

There was a moment of shock. Kim tried to fight, but Shego held her easily. Kim hated feeling helpless. She hated this woman for being in her home. But Shego's kiss was desperate in its longing. This woman wanted her, needed her. Kim's struggles died as something instinctual took over. Kim had needs too. She needed someone to want her more than anything in the world, to desire her. Kim's frustration and desperation were as overwhelming as Shego's and she opened her lips, inviting Shego's tongue.

Shego feared a trick, but cautiously relaxed her hold on the younger woman. Kim's arms went around Shego holding her with need. Neither had any sense of how many minutes they might have been on the floor kissing.

Downstairs a door slammed. "Kim? Shego? I'm home!" Anne called.

The two women rolled away from each other, both looking shocked and Kim blushing furiously. "Oh, shit!" Shego whispered. Without a word Kim quickly rose from the floor and ran quietly to her room. Her heart pounding wildly in her chest Shego got up more slowly. "I'm… up here."

"Come down. Is Kim here? I saw another car."

Shego looked back at the closed door to Kim's room. "She's in her room."

The two young women were curiously quiet throughout dinner. Jim and Tim teased their sister about how they'd finish college before she got her degree. Anne tried to get Shego to talk about her work, as much as she might be allowed to say. James questioned his daughter about her classes. Neither woman would begin a topic of conversation and answered questions as briefly as possible.

"What is wrong with you two?" Anne demanded. "Kim?"

"Sorry, Mom. Classes. Think I'll head back to college tomorrow."

"No," Shego spoke up. "You can stay. I shouldn't be here. I'll go back to Global Justice tomorrow."

"Is something wrong"

"No." "No."

"At least you've got your lie straight… Did the two of you get into a fight?"

"Yes." "No."

The meal was basically over. "James, take the boys and go get ice cream with the boys at Baskin-Robbins-"

"But there's pie here."

"And there'll be pie here when you get home. Oh, and go to the Baskin-Robbins in Upperton."

"Upperton? There's one right—"

"Upperton," she told him firmly. "I need to find out what's going on with these two."

"Mom!" "Anne!"

Shego tried to stand up as the men left the table, "Sit!" Anne commanded.

Shego sat.

"I'm making a pot of coffee," Anne told them. "Kim, you cut the pie and put three slices on the small plates."

"I'm not hungry," Shego protested.

"Me neither," Kim echoed.

"Serve the pie, Kim. The three of us will be sitting until I get straight answers from you both. You might get hungry before you get truthful."

Kim and Shego sat, staring at the pie in front of them and ignoring each other as Anne poured coffee and placed cups in front of them. Then the brain surgeon sat down and took a forkful of the apple pie. "That's good. Now what happened? One of you admitted there was a fight."

"My fault, Anne. I yelled at Kim for bumping me in the hall."

"It was my fault, Mom. I bumped into her on purpose. Then I tried to hit her. I was in a really lousy mood. I… Did you tell me she was going to be here?"

"I sent an email saying I'd invited her. You don't remember?"

"No."

"Well, I did. Check your email on the computer in the family room – unless you're deleting me or sending me to spam." Anne sighed, "I hoped you'd get over the hostility. Shego doesn't have family. I asked her to spend the week with us. I thought you might like hearing how things are going for her with Global Justice."

"I feel like I've abused your hospitality, Anne. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have fought with Kim."

"She says she started it."

"I beat her pretty fast. I think she's out of shape. I… I took advantage of—"

"Don't say it!" Kim hissed.

"Don't say what?" Anne demanded.

"It was a fight, I started it. I was wrong." Kim turned to Shego, "I'm sorry. I screwed up… I think I need to go back to college."

"No, this is your house. I shouldn't have… I'm sorry, it's my fault. I'll leave."

Anne slammed a fist down on the table, "I'm not letting anyone leave the table until I get a straight answer. Shego, how did you take advantage of Kim?"

"Well, uh… While I was holding her down so she couldn't move I, uh, kissed her."

"You kissed her?"

"Yeah, I… I'm a lesbian. Kim looked so pretty I just… I'll leave now."

Anne rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You don't have to leave. Kim, I will assume you didn't appreciate the kiss."

"She didn't," Shego answered quickly.

"Shego, please let my daughter decide for herself who she's going to kiss. That was inappropriate behavior." She turned to Kim, "It was as bad as starting a fight. That was also inappropriate behavior. The two of you don't have to be friends, but you have to learn to get along. I'm sentencing the two of you to spend tomorrow at the mall together. Have lunch. No fights. No kisses. You keep your fists and lips to yourselves, clear?"

"Yes, Mom." "Yes, Anne."

"Good. Now eat your pie."

Hours later, as the two climbed the stairs Kim whispered, "Thanks for not saying anything."

"What was there to say… You didn't really mean that kiss did you? It struck me like some fit of insanity or something."

"Yeah. Pretty much. Won't happen again, but thanks for not saying anything."

The memory of the kiss kept both women awake for longer than usual, although their responses to it were vastly different. Shego relished the memory. Kim couldn't understand how she could have responded in the way she had, and promised herself to never make the mistake again.


	13. The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

** The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring**

"So, what are you doing for Global Justice?" Kim asked cautiously as they began their mall sentence at Club Banana.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Seriously… I want to start in the sweater section."

"Clearance first, sweaters can wait. Not much. Spent most of the first year in therapy and under a microscope—"

"They're trying to understand what Drakken…"

"Nah, under a rhetorical microscope. They were afraid I'd leave and go on a crime spree. Hell, if I'd known how out of shape you were I might have."

"How's your health? Any problems?"

"Had a couple colds… Or do you—Hey, what do you think of this one?"

"Do you always pick green or black?"

"Duh, well yeah."

"It might look good on you, you should try it on. I guess I was asking about whether you're stable now."

"Not when I'm around you. But looks like Wade was right, I'm a real live boy now."

"You still have the formula, right? Just in case."

Shego showed her a ring. "Wade put some in powder form. Got a couple doses hidden in—"

Kim lunged for a blouse, "I can't believe this is in clearance!"

As they left Club Banana with their purchases Kim suddenly remembered, "Hey, you never told me about Global Justice."

"I started to, but someone went nutzo in clearance."

"Well tell me now. You said you were mostly talking with your psychologist and being watched like a hawk your first year. Where to now?"

"Bookstore?"

"You read?"

Shego shot her an exasperated looked, "Yes, Princess, I know how to read."

"Sorry," Kim blushed, "I meant, I figured you were really busy as an agent – out in the field fighting crime or something. I didn't know how much time you have."

"Quite a bit actually. Therapist says I'm doing great. They've started sending me out on some missions – or tests. I can't tell which, and that's damned annoying, but—"

"Stay together now or go to our own sections now?" Kim asked as they entered the bookstore. "I'd like to hear what you're doing at GJ. I'll stay with you and listen wherever you want to browse if you'll come with me when you're done."

"I'll go along with you first, where do you want to start?"

"Over there," Kim pointed and led the way. "Missions or tests?"

"Betty calls them missions, but–"

"Betty? Doctor Director? You're on a first name basis with the head of Global Justice?"

"No. I do it to annoy her. I can't give up all my evil. They should be happy I'm just a sarcastic smart-ass now."

"Some things never change."

"A lot of things change, Princess," Shego said as Kim got on her knees to look at titles on the lowest shelf of books. "But they don't know how much I've changed. So they're sending me out on a lot of things they call missions, but I figure most of them are tests they've set up to see if I'll do what I'm told to do or whether I'll steal something I shouldn't. On a bunch of those missions I see things I really want to pocket. It's hard, but I fight it."

"What kind of missions, if I can ask?"

"You can ask, but I shouldn't say… But I will. I'll plant bugs, photograph the occasional document, retrieve reports undercover agents have left. I've turned on a couple computers and plugged something into their USB ports. I don't know what it does but it probably lets the techies see what's on the computer."

"Getting any friends?" Kim asked as she moved to another section of books.

"Not really," Shego confessed. "Not sure what the problem is. I'm a criminal. I spend so much time with the psychologist they probably figure I'm a head case. Most of them know I'm a clone… They may hate me for any or all the above. Or maybe they're just uncomfortable and don't know how to start a conversation with, 'Hey, what's it like to be a fake human being?'. I've got some people I hang around with, mostly in the training room. Work out a lot. God, can't believe how easy I took you down yesterday – are you training at all?"

"No," Kim sighed. "People tell me I spend too much time studying. Maybe they're right."

"Want to talk about it?"

Kim almost shot back, "With you?" but hesitated. She did want to talk about it. "Lunch?"

"Sounds good. Hey, are you about done here? I have some stuff I want to look for."

"Yeah," Kim agreed, and tucked the two books she'd found under her arm. "I want to see what you're reading now."

Kim checked her watch, "I can't believe how long we've been talking. I've never sat at the food court this long."

"We probably both have the patterns from these chairs pressed into our butts, want me to check?"

"No. Give me a break. I just spilled my guts out to you… Thanks for listening. And then you do that to me again."

"I haven't done anything to you yet, Princess. I just keep making the offer."

"I'm going to keep saying no."

"A girl can hope. It's hit on you or hit on your mother."

"My mother?"

"She's hot, Kim. I'd jump her in a minute. But she's also the nicest person I know and I don't want to say anything that might upset her."

"But you've got no problem upsetting me."

"None. Besides, that kiss yesterday gave me some hope."

"I don't know what happened yesterday. You took advantage of me."

"I didn't take advantage very long. You were a willing participant real fast – and don't go claiming Stockholm Syndrome on me."

"I was just lonely. Too lonely, you heard what's happening with me. It was a temporary madness. I'm better now and it didn't mean anything."

"I'm hoping it means you're bi."

"I'm not bi."

"Won't know unless you give it a try."

"Can we drop it?"

"Only if you agree to go to the gym tonight with me and spar."

"So you can jump me again?"

"I'm serious, Princess. You've changed. You were always smart, but the active seemed even more important to you. Now you're just using the smart and ignoring a big part of who you are. I think Ron—"

"Don't talk about Ron."

"He was a big part of who you were. You needed him with you, you needed to know you had someone at your back. With him gone you lost part of yourself and—"

"I don't need Ron!"

"Now that's just hurt talking. I'm not Ron, but you need to get back in touch with that physical part of yourself. And besides, I could enjoy shoving your face in the mat."

"When did you get to be so smart? Hey, I'll mop the floor with you. You just caught me by surprise yesterday."

"I've always been smart. But a year of spilling my guts to the psychologist made it easier for me to listen and empathize. Mop the floor with me? No way in hell. I knocked you down yesterday 'cause you're out of shape."

"No way. I always beat you. I can still beat you."

"You only beat me in your dreams. Loser let's me rub liniment into her aching muscles tomorrow."

"You said you'd stop talking like that if I agreed to spar. Loser buys coffee afterward."

An anxious Anne Possible waited up for the two women that night, "Where were you? The gym closed an hour ago."

"Loser was going to buy coffee," Shego reminded her.

"You said you had a good day talking, but I was still worried. After getting into a fight as soon as you saw each other yesterday I was afraid sparring would get out of hand."

"We were fine, Mom," Kim assured her. "I think Shego was right. It felt really good."

"Going to tell her how it went, Pumpkin?"

"I'm not out of shape!" Kim turned to her mother, "Someone's been training with Global Justice. She took her game up a couple levels, that's all."

"What the woman who won't admit she's out of shape is trying to tell you," Shego explained, "is that she paid for the coffee afterward."

"I'm not out of shape. You just learned some new moves, that's all. I know what you've got now. I could beat you."

"Want to go to the gym tomorrow, if Miss Denial isn't too sore from doing something harder than writing a final exam for the first time in a year?"

"You got it," Kim promised.

Kim was too sore the next day. She turned down Shego's request to rub liniment into her aching muscles, but made a counter offer to pay for a movie if Shego bought popcorn and soda.

Kim felt able to go to the gym the day after that, and paid for coffee afterward. And the day after.

By her last day in Middleton before returning to school Kim was able to admit, "Thanks, I needed that."

"Buying coffee for me or me proving you were out of shape? Or both?"

"Neither. I'm not out of shape. But you're right; the physical stuff is part of who I am. I'm out of practice even if I'm not out of shape. I'm going to start training again. Next time you see me I'll be ready to knock you on your butt."

"So… You're guessing what, sixty? seventy years until I see you again?"

"I'm going to enjoy knocking you on your butt, you know that?"

"Going to jump on top of me when you get me down?"

Kim actually chuckled, "No way. You'd throw the fight. You'll pay for coffee fair and square."


	14. A Heart That Does Not Know Its Mind

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney Corp. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

** But It Is Awkward When You Find a Heart That Does Not Know Its Mind**

Kim kept her promise to herself to start training seriously once she got back to school. It felt good. She needed the exercise. She needed to win and feel in control. She would be ready to take on Shego the next time she saw her.

Kim was not ready to take on Shego the next time she saw her. About a month after her Spring Break Kim returned to her apartment from the gym, humming to herself and thinking about an assignment she needed to finish that night, and found a familiar green-and-black clad figure lounging in front of her apartment building.

"What are you doing here?"

"Duh, waiting for you."

"You know what I mean."

"I'm part of a surveillance team," Shego shrugged. "We're in the area and when I'm not on duty my time's my own."

"Can you tell me who you're watching, or is it one of those, 'if I tell you I have to kill you' assignments?"

"More of an 'I can't tell you, even if you try to seduce me' assignments. Why don't you test what a good little Global Justice agent I am. Go ahead, offer to get in bed with me."

"I is a college girl now, remember? I is not stupid."

"Oh, yeah. Can I take you out to dinner? Ready to spar?"

"I wish you'd called me earlier, I just got back from the gym. I really need to book tonight."

"Back from the gym? Getting back in shape, huh?"

"I wasn't out of shape. But working out feels good. How long will your assignment last?"

"Don't know. Could have what we need tomorrow. Might be a month."

Kim hesitated. "I really need to finish this paper."

"Hmm, I was about to ask you to blow it off, but you don't blow off papers. Have you eaten?"

"I was just going to have a bowl of cereal or something and get to work."

"Any idea how long you'll be writing?"

"An hour if everything goes well, no idea how long if the brain doesn't cooperate."

"How about we order a pizza and I watch TV on… You got a TV and couch?" Kim nodded. "Okay. If you finish at a decent hour we go out and do something."

Shego was stretched out on the couch, asleep, when Kim finished writing. The redhead put a blanket over her and went to bed. Kim slept late in the morning. When she woke up she found a cereal bowl in the sink and Shego was gone. "She could have left a phone number," Kim thought. "Or maybe she's not allowed to do that when she's doing surveillance."

Kim came straight back to her apartment after classes, and caught herself feeling disappointed to not see Shego waiting outside her building. She found a note taped to her apartment door, "I'm like a vampire. Once you ask me in I feel welcome anytime – so I broke in. Don't panic if I'm watching TV… Oh, if there's a necktie on the doorknob I'm bonking someone in your bedroom – go away for an hour or two and give me some privacy."

"Shego!" Kim thundered when she threw open the door. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Watching television… Didn't I say that in the note? And can you pipe down, this is a good movie."

"I mean, what are my neighbors going to think?"

"Besides thinking the volume control is broken on your mouth?"

"What'll they think if they saw this… Heck, what's the movie?"

Shego patted a spot beside her on the couch, "Sit down. African Queen. You see things you missed before when you watch for the second or third time."

At the end of the movie Shego turned to Kim, "What are you doing in this dinky off-campus apartment anyway? The dorms are closer to the library."

"Quieter here, no drunken parties at weird hours."

"I warned you. I also promised to watch your back if you decide to go to one."

"You also promised to take advantage of me after getting me drunk, if I remember correctly."

"The offer still stands."

Kim gave Shego a look of mock disgust. "What am I going to do with you?"

"You could take me out to eat… Or we could stay here and I'll eat you."

"I can't afford to take you out to eat. I'm a poor college student. I wasted all my money on Spring Break buying coffee for a sex fiend."

"I'm sure she appreciated it. If I take you out for a nice dinner at an expensive restaurant will you feel like you owe me sex?"

"No."

"Then can I take you somewhere cheap for dinner?"

"We've got a salad buffet… Keep it light and we'll head to the gym afterward. You can buy coffee and dessert after I beat you sparring."

"If loser is buying we may need to just let it be coffee. The poor college student can't afford cheesecake."

"Tonight I'm going to beat you."

"Tell you what, Princess," Shego offered as they waited in line at the coffee shop. "I'll pay for cheesecake if you let me crash on your couch again."

"Crash on my couch," Kim asked, the suspicion obvious in her voice, "that's all you're asking for?"

"Sure as hell not all I want, but I figure it's all I've got a shot at – so it's all I'm asking for."

"Doesn't Global Justice give you a place to stay or something?"

"We've got a nice hotel suite for the team, but I like being with you."

Kim smiled, "Sure. You can have the couch."

"With any luck I might see you naked in the shower."

"Changed my mind, I don't want you on my couch."

"Too late, Princess. You're one of the good guys. You never go back on your word and I already got the invite."

On the weekend Kim took Shego up to Boston for lunch with Monique and Bonnie at a Thai place near Harvard Square.

"Let me get this straight," Monique said, staring at the green woman. "You gave me heck for sharing a dorm room with Bonnie, and you're hanging around with the woman who used to beat you up all the time?"

"She didn't beat me up all the time," Kim protested.

"Sure I did," Shego countered.

"No you didn't!" Kim turned to Monique, "And I'm not sharing an apartment with her. She's just visiting. She's a Global Justice agent now and—"

"I told you people change," Bonnie reminded Kim.

"And could you keep the Global Justice agent down," Shego hissed. "That wasn't supposed to be said out loud."

"Sorry," Kim apologized. "I didn't know."

"My lips are sealed," Monique promised.

"And I wasn't even here and didn't have lunch with you," Bonnie assured them.

Monique laughed, "So where are you? Who are you with? And what's he doing with you?"

"Please, it's too early in the day for that. While you and Kim are having lunch here, just by yourselves, I'm studying for an exam."

"You could be in the sauna at a spa," Shego suggested. "I'm the woman sweating on the next bench while I'm waiting for a massage."

"Spa sounds better than library. I'm waiting for an avocado facial and astringent wrap," Bonnie purred.

"I introduce myself," Shego continued.

"I introduce myself, ask what you're there for."

"I put a hand on your thigh and say, 'You.'."

Bonnie's eyes opened wide in shock, "What?"

"I think she's hitting on you," Kim explained. "Better decide what you're doing fast or she'll run her hand up under that towel you're wearing."

"I'm holding onto my towel for dear life and running for the door," Bonnie announced. "I just remembered I have homework to finish at the library." She turned to Kim, "She's staying with you? For real?"

"She's been sleeping on my couch."

"I've offered to sleep in her bed, but she keeps turning me down."

"She's been offering to do other things in my bed that have nothing to do with sleep – and that's why she's on my couch."

"Either of you two want to take me for a test drive and tell Kim what she's missing?" Shego offered.

Monique just laughed, thinking it was all a joke. Bonnie suspected there were some real offers being made. The flirting with her had not been serious, or at least Bonnie hoped it was not serious, but Bonnie read Shego as seriously interested in Kim. Kim's emotions were harder to read, but she was much happier than the last time Bonnie had seen her, and Shego was with her. Bonnie wondered if the two facts were related or simply a coincidence.

"Hurry up, Princess," Shego called from the couch on Thursday night. "They saved the best 'til last on Bogie month, Casablanca."

"Keep your shirt on," Kim called. "And I mean that literally. I'm almost done with Econ. Then I'll put the popcorn in the microwave and be in."

Kim couldn't remember exactly how it happened, but they were stretched out together on the couch by the end of the movie, with Shego behind Kim. The green woman had an arm around Kim, keeping her from falling off the front of the couch. Shego nuzzled Kim's hair and the Global Justice agent whispered, 'you smell wonderful,' Kim smiled and snuggled back in her arms. The television stayed on but they ignored it as they lay there talking until they fell asleep.

Kim's fingers trembled nervously as she looked through the key blanks at the hardware store. She told herself she was just giving Shego a key to her place so the green woman would stop picking the lock. One of her neighbors might see Shego breaking in and call the police. The conscious part of Kim's brain assured her that Shego should not see anything in the gift of the key. The subconscious part of Kim's brain saw this as a cautious invitation to move the relationship up a notch. (The conscious part of Kim's brain refused to even consider the use of the word relationship.) Kim's id screamed that Shego owed her a make out session on the couch for the key, and Shego had damn well better recognize the fact when Kim handed it to her.

Shego wasn't at Kim's apartment. The redhead paced around the small apartment for half an hour waiting for her, and then the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Princess? Bad news… Bad news for me anyway. Global Justice calls it good news. I don't know what kind of news you're going to—"

"What are you talking about? Where are you?"

"Surveillance team got everything we needed. We're packing up our gear. Got to leave in a few minutes."

"You can't come by to tell me in person? Can you take a couple days of vacation? I was… Nevermind."

"Will Du's running the assignment. He'd chew my butt off for even talking to you now. I'm hiding in the bathroom 'cause he won't check in here. If I wanted vacation time I had to ask two weeks in advance – in triplicate."

"It was good seeing you."

"It was wonderful seeing you."

"Uh… I know you're not going to be in town, but… ah… If you're close or something you're… Hope I see you again."

"Count on it, Pumpkin. Got to go, Brad knocked on the door and says Will's looking for me."

Kim's conscious mind congratulated itself for keeping her from issuing an invitation that Shego would certainly have interpreted as promising more than Kim meant. Kim's subconscious mind had wanted to tell Shego she wouldn't need to sleep on the couch next time she was in town, and was thoroughly miffed with the conscious mind for not letting her issue the invitation. Kim's id demanded she drown her sorrows in a half gallon of Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge chunk ice cream.

_"I was not out of shape,"_ Kim told herself as she paid for a pint of Ben and Jerry's.


	15. When First My Old, Old Love I Knew

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

** When First My Old, Old Love I Knew**

Kim stared at the ceiling and wondered what was going on. She missed Shego. Part of her wanted to get in bed with Shego. Part of her reminded herself women had no business sleeping with women. But she had enjoyed watching the movie with Shego holding her. Had she enjoyed the fact it was Shego holding her, or did she just need someone to hold her?

Kim sighed and readjusted her pillow, hoping it might bring sleep faster.

She needed to get out on some dates with guys to take her mind off Shego and get some perspective. This wasn't high school any more; she didn't need to wait nervously for Josh to ask her out. She started running through the guys she knew around campus. On her first look at the mental list she didn't find anyone she wanted to go out with. Maybe she should call Bonnie; Monique said… No, even if Bonnie had some brilliant hunk for her Kim wanted someone here rather than Boston. She went through her Miskatonic list again.

Guys shouldn't be rejected because they weren't handsome enough, Kim decided. Some of the best looking guys she'd met on campus had also been some of the biggest jerks – expecting women to fawn all over them. David, Chester, and Tony weren't 'Wow!' material, but they all seemed like decent guys from the classes she'd had with them. Questions about class would provide a good excuse to meet them for coffee or something and get to know them better.

Dave had a girlfriend back home in Texas. Kim picked up the feeling he wouldn't mind seeing more of her socially, but Kim wasn't interested. He would either be stringing her along, or she'd be the reason he broke up with the girl back home and Kim wanted no part of that.

Chet was a nice guy, but his nervous habits and personal hygiene explained his lack of experience with girls.

Tony was wonderful. He was funny, smart, and courteous. He was also queer as a three dollar bill. Not that Kim minded. They shared a taste in music and held similar opinions on a variety of topics. Shego called once while Kim was out with Tony. Kim got a little thrill from the jealous tone in Shego's voice. Kim immediately felt guilty and said, "No reason for you to feel jealous. I'll call you as soon as I get back to my place."

"Not too late," Shego warned, hoping Kim wouldn't be spending the night at the guy's apartment

"No, I won't be too late." Kim smiled, Shego was definitely jealous.

Tony raised an eyebrow when Kim hung up, "So, who's the lucky guy? I didn't know I had a rival for your affection."

Kim blushed, "Just a friend," she mumbled.

"Sure," Tony smirked in a grin that said he didn't believe her for a minute, "I'll bet your eyes light up like that when I give you a call too."

"Okay, kind of a special friend."

"Assure him I'm gay and he doesn't need to fight me for your hand… Does he have a brother?"

"Four actually."

"Ohhh, you have to introduce me!"

Kim called Shego as promised when she got back to the apartment. Shego was on a vague assignment, and wouldn't tell Kim where she was, what she was doing, or when she'd be back. Kim considered teasing Shego about the guy she'd been out with, but decided it wasn't fair and told her that Tony was gay. She didn't tell Shego how Tony had insisted her eyes had lit up when Shego called, but she did say Tony wouldn't mind an introduction to one of her brothers.

The next week Kim celebrated the semester winding down and handing in a massive term paper by sitting in the student union with Tony and watching the guys who passed and guessing which one of them might have better luck if they hit on him. In mid-discussion Kim's phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Kim, do you have time to talk?"

"Ron?"

"Yeah. Hey, I know you're always busy, but can I talk with you, please?"

"Uh, sure. Just a minute." She blew Tony an air kiss and headed for the door. She had a minute to get angry as she left the union. "Okay," she told Ron as she found a tree to sit under. "Why has it been months since I heard from you?"

"'Cause you were always too busy to talk with me."

"What are you talking about? You never called me."

"Whenever I called you, you were always too busy too talk. It was always 'Talk to you later, Ron, I got to study,' or 'I'm on my way to the library,' or 'I got a paper to write.' I waited for you to call me so I wouldn't disturb you. Even then you were always too busy to really talk. You always had something you needed to do or get to and were just squeezing me into a spare minute."

"That's not true. You were always busy when I called you."

"Well in the fall. Duh! I'm on football scholarship. Mom and Dad saved money for one kid in college. Then along came Hana. I don't want my parents spending—"

"You weren't trying to push me out of your life?"

"Heck no. You were always my best friend. I felt like you were pushing me out of your life. You always get so intense that—"

"We're idiots, aren't we?"

"Sure sounds like it. I got to talk with you. I need to your opinion."

"On what?"

"Little hard to go into on the phone. Semester's about over. I wanted to see you face-to-face. Are you coming back to Middleton at all or are you off to China again?"

"Actually planning to stay out here, got a big research project."

"Can I come out?"

"Yes… No… I really should see my folks. I've got a week after classes end. I'll come to Middleton. When do you head home?"

"Friday."

"I've got my last exam Friday. I'll try to get a flight that night or Saturday."

"God, I've missed you, KP. It'll to be good to see you."

They talked for half an hour until Ron's battery died. Kim leaned back against the tree and smiled. It was a beautiful day. It had been good to talk with Ron. She reviewed her memory of the call, or more precisely her feelings as she talked with him. Talking with him felt good, as good as talking with Monique. No, after the long silence it felt even better than a call from Monique. But in terms of romantic spark it probably wasn't much different than a call to Monique. Nothing.

"Wow, you're buff," Kim told Ron as he gave her a hug at the airport.

"Couple years of working out for the team. You staying in shape?"

"I'm not out of shape!"

"Can we drop you kids somewhere on our way home?" Anne asked.

"Anne!" her husband protested. "We haven't seen her for ten minutes."

"She's seen us since she's seen Ron. We should give them some time to talk."

Ron looked at Kim, she thought she detected a look of pleading in his eyes as he said, "Your call, KP."

"Bueno Nacho?"

The grin he gave her was pure Ron, "Sounds great."

Anne Possible laughed, "Some things never change."

"Some things never should," Ron answered, offering his arm to Kim, "best friends are forever."

Perhaps some things hadn't changed, but many had. They spent an hour and a half in Bueno Nacho catching up on the last couple years. Ron wanted a little more privacy for part of the conversation and they headed for the park.

"Sounds like you're seeing a lot of Shego," Kim commented.

"Yeah, I needed someone to take over your job in telling me to do my homework. They give jocks easy workloads while we're playing. Heck, they offer us junk classes when we aren't playing so we don't flunk out. She made sure I did the homework and insisted I take real classes in the spring semesters."

"Sounds like she's good for you."

"She sure is," Ron sighed.

"Can I assume the conversation you needed with me is about her?" Kim asked as they found a park bench to sit on that had no one close to it.

"Yep."

"You're going to ask her to marry you?"

Ron looked shocked, "No way, KP! Well, no way now. Hey, I'm just a sophomore. I'm not ready to—"

"Sorry, Ron, you just got all serious. I assume you wouldn't ask me if it was okay to sleep with her."

Ron chuckled nervously, "Little late on that."

"Some sort of performance problem?"

"Didn't you follow the team last year? I was great! I gained—"

"I meant in bed."

Ron blushed crimson and Kim laughed at his discomfort. "No. Not that," he assured her.

"Okay, I give up," Kim told him when she stopped laughing. "You don't want to marry her. You—"

"I don't want to marry her now. I might someday."

"Is that the problem? She's seeing other guys and you aren't sure if—"

"Could you stop making wild guesses?"

"Only if you can tell me what you wanted to talk about. You're making me guess here Ron. I'm doing the best I can with the clues you're giving me."

Kim was not prepared for his next words, "She wants me to join Team Go."

"Team Go?"

"Yeah. She knows I had your back. I told her about the time I was Fearless Ferret. She wants me to join Team Go."

"You're a hero."

"I'm not a hero. I was a sidekick."

"You're a hero. You saved me from Gill – twice. You faced Monkey Fist. You took on other villains. You're a hero!"

"I was your sidekick! That stuff was your idea. You wanted to be a hero. I was your friend. You asked me to help and I did. It wasn't my idea! I just—"

"I'm sorry. I should have asked you what you—"

"I'm not complaining. You're my best friend. I wanted to be with you. I'd do anything I could to help you. But on those aptitude tests they always made us take I never got back, 'would make a good hero'. That was your goal. Not mine."

"I should have listened to you."

"I never said anything."

"I should have asked."

"You're missing the point here, KP."

"No, I'm not. I dragged you along when you didn't—"

Ron reached over and gently pinched her lips between a thumb and forefinger so she couldn't talk, "You're not listening now, Kim."

She brushed his hand from her mouth, then pinched her lips together with her own left hand. With her right hand she crossed her heart and held the fingers up in the 'scout's honor' gesture.

"The point is; I was your sidekick because I wanted to be your sidekick. It was what I wanted. We had fun. I don't feel like I'd contribute to Team Go. They've got real powers. I don't think I'd even be sidekick at that level, I'd be like a mascot or something."

"Don't sell yourself short."

"That's what Shego says."

"A minute ago I said I should have listened to you."

"I said you were missing the point."

"I'm not sure I was. I should have asked what you wanted and listened to you. What do you want to do? Do it because you want to do it, or don't do it because you don't want to do it. What do you want to do?"

Ron stared off in the distance. "I'm not sure. You're my best friend. Hanging around with you was kind of my life. Being your sidekick was what I wanted to do, then. I guess I have other things I like doing now. Team Go? I don't think so."

"Are you saying you don't want to join Team Go or you don't think you'd contribute – 'cause I think you'll be great at whatever you do."

"Thanks, KP. I don't think I want to join Team Go. But…"

"But what?"

"What if Shego doesn't like me anymore?"

"Ron! Do you think she only likes you so you'll join Team Go?"

"No."

"Does she only like you because you're football star, or does she like you because you're a sweet guy?"

"I hope she likes me for being me."

"I hope so too."

"Personal question here… Would I have still been your friend even if I wasn't your sidekick?"

"How old were we when we promised to be best friends forever?"

"Four."

"How old were we when I went on my first mission?"

"Uh, how are you counting missions?"

"Fine, how old were you when you first went along as sidekick and not just to scream, 'Kim, don't do it!'?"

"Fifteen, I think."

"Sounds about right. Eleven years when you were my best friend in the world – and you weren't sidekick. If she dumps you over not joining Team Go she doesn't deserve someone as nice as you."

"There's one more problem… This'll sound weird."

"After the stuff we went through together? Can anything sound weird?"

"That's sorta it. We went through so much stuff. The whole hero and sidekick thing. I kinda feel like you got first dibs on me if I was going to do that – like you might think I was betraying you or something."

Kim laughed. "Thanks, but I don't have copyright on the hero thing. I think some guy named Gilgamesh had it, but the copyright expired a long time ago."

"So, if I lose my mind and want to join Team Go I have your permission?"

"You have my permission and blessing for whatever you do – as long as it's what you want to do and not just what you think your red-haired friend wants you to do."

"Shego doesn't have red hair."

"I was talking about me. You said you want to marry her?"

"I said I'm a sophomore in college and the idea of marriage scares me."

"Actually a junior now – unless you're missing a bunch of credits."

"Okay, I'm a junior. But I'm still scared."

They talked about Shego for awhile. Kim realized she didn't feel jealous; she just wanted Ron to be happy.

"I wonder what happened to the other Shego."

"She's doing pretty well at Global Justice."

"Where did you hear that?"

"She told me."

"You've seen her?"

"Yeah… She's a good friend."

He stared in disbelief, "You and Shego? Friends?" Kim nodded. "Whoa, seriously weird. Next thing I know you'll be telling me you and Bonnie are friends now. That would be a sign of the apocalypse."

"Talk much with Felix?"

"Not as much as I should. Why?"

Ron's scream of anguish echoed across the park as the world he knew disappeared.


	16. With Catlike Tread

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**With Cat-like Tread**

Kim turned on her computer as soon as she got to her apartment. Ron had beaten her, and there was an email waiting from him. "Really great to see you. Hope you had a safe flight. Shego said you could stay with her if you want to watch me play this fall."

Kim typed a response, "May take Shego up on her offer. Best kind of flight – uneventful. Not even a screaming baby in the row behind. Great seeing you too."

Tony had gone home for the summer, but Monique and Bonnie would both be in Boston. While her research project promised to be massive it was her only project for the summer and she should have time for runs north to see them.

In addition her extra work would probably give her enough credits to graduate next spring – beating her brothers to her Bachelor's degrees.

She was a week into her research when she got a call from Shego.

"Do you remember saying you wouldn't mind seeing me again?" the green woman asked cautiously.

"Yes! You going to be around here again?"

"I've got a little time off… I don't really have family or anywhere in particular to go. I wouldn't… I had fun with you. Could I spend part of my… If you don't mind, that is—"

"How much time you got off?"

"A couple weeks."

"You could spend it here, if you want to."

"Really?" The joy in Shego's voice was obvious.

"Really. Of course, I'm doing some work… Maybe I wouldn't be the best company in the world, but it'd be great to have you — if you could stand me being in the library or lab four or five hours a day."

"No, that's okay. I like being… Thanks for the invitation."

"When can you be here?"

"Will a week from tomorrow be okay?"

"Just perfect. I might even have time to vacuum before you get here."

"She'll sleep on the couch," Kim's conscious mind told her. "Wash your sheets, just in case," her subconscious mind advised. "How exactly does it work with two women?" her id wanted to know.

Although Shego wasn't expected until after two Kim finished her research work by noon and sat outside her apartment, waiting, when the rental car pulled in. Shego waved before opening the trunk and pulling out a duffle.

"What did you bring me? What did you bring me?" Kim chanted as Shego walked over to the door.

"I'm not enough for you?"

"I got something for you."

"What did you get for me, Princess?"

Kim pulled a key ring out of her pocket. "Here."

Shego looked at the gift and raised an eyebrow. "The key to your heart?"

"The key to my front door."

"Close enough."

"So you don't have to pick the lock. The one with the square top opens the front door here. The one with the hexagon top opens my apartment door."

"No key to your bedroom door?"

"No lock on my bedroom door." Kim blushed, and wondered if she should have had one installed. "Come on in!" her id screamed. "She flirts with you, you should be free to tease her," her subconscious mind assured her. "Change the subject," her conscious mind ordered.

"You, uh, said something about an assignment coming up?"

"Deep cover," Shego told her, trying the front door key to make sure it worked, "really deep cover." They walked down the hall to Kim's apartment. "And really dangerous."

"Will you be safe?"

"Duh, really dangerous means not safe. But I plan on being careful. Global Justice doesn't like to lose agents. I'm the best person for this job though.

The key to Kim' apartment door worked fine. Shego dropped her duffle and took Kim in her arms. The redhead didn't resist, but when Shego's lips moved in, Kim turned her head and Shego kissed her cheek.

"Sorry," Shego apologized, afraid she'd frightened Kim. "Just saying thanks for the invitation and the key."

"No, no problem. You're welcome," Kim stammered. "I'm just really nervous about having you here and what I can do with…"

"Change the subject! Change the subject!" Kim's conscious mind screamed.

"Kiss her you idiot!" her id shouted.

"I was in Middleton for a week. I saw Ron."

"Oh." Kim could hear the hurt in that one short word.

"He'd like to marry you someday."

"What?"

Kim laughed at Shego's look of surprise, "The other you."

"She's still around?"

"Keeping Ron on the straight and narrow. Hey, leave your bag there. We'll talk about where it goes later. Let's sit on the couch and I'll fill you in."

Kim told Shego about Ron. With the warrants issued Shego could tell Kim about the surveillance work a few months earlier. Kim told Shego about Tony.

Shego couldn't take it any longer. "Princess, what in the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I've never seen anyone with a case of nerves like I'm seeing in you. Something's going on, and you aren't talking about whatever it is."

"That's not true."

"You never were a good liar. You want to get back with Ron, is that the problem?"

"No. It's weird. It was really good to see him. But there was no spark, no feeling 'I need to get back with him'. I felt happy he and Shego are doing well."

"Another option, for some reason you hate my guts and want to get rid of me. But you said I could visit and you gave me a key to the place."

"No, it's good to see you."

"Any problems with school? Family? Your friends Bonnie and Monique?"

"No."

"I've got this feeling you're nervous about me being here. Did my hug bother you that much?"

"It felt good. I'm just scared I'll be lousy company. I'm glad you're here. I like being with you. But I have to do my work and I don't want you to be bored doing nothing."

"I can read a book, watch television, visit historic landmarks. There's stuff to do. I'll be happy spending any time with you."

"Thanks. I really am glad you're here."

"And the hug really felt good?"

"Great. I—" Shego took Kim in her arms. It did feel good. Kim relaxed and laid her head on the older woman's shoulder. "This is nice," Kim purred.

"Wonderful," Shego agreed, and softly kissed the top of Kim's head.

Kim enjoyed the embrace for a minute, then suddenly panicked again and pushed Shego away.

"Okay, Princess, I am picking up a serious approach-avoidance conflict here. You can tell me about it or I can pick up my bag and leave or I can call the men with the white coats to take you away, your choice."

"Sometimes I have feelings for you that make me uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable as in you want me to tie you up and whip you?"

"Feelings like a woman shouldn't be having for another woman."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why shouldn't you have those feelings?"

"I just said, because we're both women."

"There's solid logic. You say your friend Tony is gay?"

"Yes."

"Does that make him a bad person? A monster? Does it mean you should hate him?"

"That's stupid."

"So why is it wrong to have feelings for a woman?"

"I like guys."

"You can like both, it's allowed."

"What if we do something, and then I decide I didn't like it?"

"I'm willing to take a chance," Shego assured her and reached out her arms. Kim backed away. "We're off to a great start here, Cupcake. You admit you might have feelings for me, so your first response is to run away."

"You haven't been here two hours and you're trying to get me into bed."

"I haven't been here two hours, but I don't think I've mentioned bed at all. You're the one who brought that up. I just tried to give you a hug. For once I've been holding back on the double-entendres and suggestive language. I'm trying not to scare you, Pumpkin, at least not scare you yet."

Kim leaned back and closed her eyes, "Sorry. This is just weird for me."

"But you think you like me?"

"I know I like you, I'm just not sure in what way I like you – or how far it goes."

"You know what you need, Princess? You need a date."

"Don't I know it," Kim groaned. "I realized that after your visit a couple months ago. But my work load is a—"

"Bitch?" Shego suggested.

"I was going to say pain in the rear." Shego shrugged. Kim continued, "My schedule was so hectic – see work load above – that it's hard to plan in advance, I don't do hanging around looking desperate, and most of the guys just want to get me in bed rather than be in a real relationship. I had three decent guys I asked out from classes – and the best of those three turned out to be gay."

"What I was saying, although little Miss Literal missed the point, was that you ought to go out on a date with me."

"With you?"

"Sure. I'm asking you out on a swear-to-God real date. Tonight if you aren't busy."

"We went out to the movies and out to eat when you were here before."

"We went out as friends. With none of your Middleton buds around I was the default friend. Hell, I think the only reason you talked with me was because I showed up on your doorstep. I don't know if you'd cross the street to see me on your own."

"That's not true! I like you."

"Then accept the offer. Go out on a date with me. I've got suavity you wouldn't believe."

Kim arched one eyebrow, "Suavity?"

"Trust me, Pumpkin, I've got suavity that will knock your socks off."

"So you say… Hoping to knock off my panties and blouse too, I'll bet." "Pull back! Pull back" conscious mind shouted.

Shego grinned, "You're the one who keeps bringing that up today. And a girl can hope."

Kim hesitated, then smiled, "Okay. It's a date."

"If she takes you to an expensive restaurant you owe her sex," Kim's id screamed. Kim's conscious mind ignored her id with the ease of long practice. And Kim's subconscious mind allowed her heart to beat faster.

Kim let Shego drive, although she directed the pale woman through the streets of the city where Friendship is a one-way street and many of the college students live off Hope.

Dinner left Kim's conscious mind feeling warm and comfortable and her id chanting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"I found a place on the web where we can dance… If you want," Shego invited as she held the car door open for Kim.

Kim gave her a fast kiss on the cheek, "I'd love to."

"No!" her id protested. "Take her home! Now!"

They stayed at the club for almost two hours. They were both smiling on the drive back.

"That was fun," Kim told Shego. "Thanks… I don't know if I've ever had a date I enjoyed more."

"I know I haven't."

Shego pulled into a parking spot and turned off the engine. "Well, you're home… Going to ask me in for a glass or wine or something?"

"I don't have any wine."

Shego winked and raised an eyebrow, "Then are you going to ask me in for something?"

Kim's conscious mind was currently tied up and stuffed in a closet while her subconscious mind and id fought for control. She smiled at Shego, "No wine. Coffee, tea, or me?"

"You, Princess."

Kim wrapped her arms around Shego as soon as the apartment door closed behind them. The kiss continued from the entryway to the small living room where they stretched out on the couch. They continued to kiss and cuddle for half an hour.

"Why isn't she ripping our clothes off?" Id demanded.

"I don't know," subconscious responded grimly. "We may need to take the initiative. Maybe she's trying to be sensitive."

"She's Shego! She isn't sensitive! Rip her clothes off."

"Now I know why conscious mind doesn't listen to you," sub-conscious thought to herself.

Kim took a deep breath and screwed up her courage, "There's more room on the bed," she whispered.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Kim said, and kissed her hard. Shego tensed. Kim stopped the kiss. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie. I just said I was ready to go into the bedroom. And you tensed up like I did this afternoon. Now what's wrong?"'

Shego rolled onto her back. "Okay, the truth." She touched her head, "In my head I know I want to be with you." She touched her chest, "In my heart, I really want to make love with you." She touched her stomach, "In my gut… The thought of making love to you scares the crap out of me."


	17. If You're Anxious for to Shine

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various and sundry characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. All registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**If You're Anxious for to Shine**

"What do you mean, the idea of making love with me scares you?" Kim demanded. "You've been trying to get me into bed for two years."

"Yeah, well, intellectually I want to get into bed with you, but—"

"Then get your brain into my bed, now. I surrender. I've giving myself to you – and you chicken out?"

Shego sighed, her own distress equal to Kim's frustration, "You've got to remember," she whispered, "I'm a virgin."

Kim blinked in disbelief, "You're a virgin too?"

"Wait, you never?"

"Never. But I thought…"

"I've got her memory of a couple guys… Or maybe they're my memories, I'm still not sure how that works. But this body has never… I mean, I told you. I like girls. As Drakken's assistant you were the only person I ever met I wanted to make love to. The only other women I've had crushes on were your mom and my therapist – and she called it transference or something and normal. At Global Justice I've been too much of a freak to… So, anyway, I'm scared. I want my first time with you to be really special and I'm scared that–"

"So you've been propositioning me, flirting with me, and the suggestive language and all that stuff – and you're as clueless as I am?"

"You don't have to put it that way."

"What way?"

"Truthfully. I'm not used to dealing with the truth."

Kim sighed, "Let's go to the bedroom."

"Are you sure? I just—"

"We're going to the bedroom. We're going to kiss and cuddle a little longer, then get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow while I'm doing research at the lab you're going into the bookstore for a copy of, 'The Complete Idiot's Guide for Two Women in Bed' and tomorrow night you'll practice chapter one on me."

"There's a book like that?"

"I don't know. I figured you knew what we'd be doing. There's got to be some kind of a book like that."

"I'd feel kind of weird buying a… Can I steal it?"

"No! Find one and buy it."

"But—"

"Find the book. Buy the book. Practice on me. Or go into a drugstore and shout, 'I want to buy every box of condoms you have' and then walk down the street handing them out to men at random."

"You, uh, sound mad."

"I can't imagine why. So book and me, or condoms?"

"You."

"Good girl… Oh, I want to see the sales receipt."

It felt surprisingly good to both of them to wake up beside the other.

In the afternoon they went to the gym.

"You were a lot better, Pumpkin," Shego congratulated Kim. "You put me down a couple times. You may be back to the level you were before."

"I was not out of shape!"

"Yes you were, and in denial too. But you were really good today."

"You were still better."

"Global Justice training and my powers. But you," Shego leaned over and tapped Kim's nose with her forefinger, "are incredible. You'll get your skills to a whole new level to try and keep up with me."

"Speaking of keeping up with you… Find a book?"

"Yeah. Ready for chapter one?"

"It's still early. I just wanted to make sure. How about roller skating tonight before you practice on," Kim leaned over and kissed Shego, "your willing and eager guinea pig?"

"You'd rather roller skate than—"

"I said 'before', not 'instead of'," Kim reminded her. "Didn't we talk about skating once and we both said we liked it?"

"I don't remember talking about it, but I like skating."

Kim's conscious and sub-conscious minds felt satisfaction at the rink. She had fun with Shego. Shego skated well. But Kim skated a little better, and after months of losing when they sparred Kim enjoyed finding something where she had an edge. "Why the hell are we skating!" her id screamed. "Go home! Sex!"

Some hours later in Shego's arms Kim purred, "Wow. That was just chapter one?"

"Chapter seven," Shego admitted, planting a soft kiss on the top of Kim's head. "They had chapters like, 'Gay, Bi, or Just Curious?', and where to meet girls and STDs before they got to the good stuff. I figure we're safe on the STDs under the circumstances. It was good for you too?"

"Great," Kim assured her.

Shego pulled her close and Kim went to sleep in the green woman's arms.

The next night was even better. Kim still wasn't sure what it meant. Her conscious mind still whispered it was wrong. It wasn't necessarily wrong for two women to love each other. But Kim was normal. Normal women didn't do that. She read the chapter 'Gay, Bi, or Just Curious' to assure herself she was just curious. Her subconscious mind felt thoroughly disgusted with her state of denial. "Look for positions in chapter eight," id suggested.

Monique called, "A new Indian buffet just opened. Can you come up this weekend?"

"Shego's in town."

"Well bring her along – unless she doesn't like goat curry."

"What's wrong, Princess?" Shego asked as they ate dinner that night. "You look like your brain is still in the lab."

"I, uh, accepted an invitation to see Monique and Bonnie on Saturday."

"You don't want me to go?"

"I told 'Nique you were in town. You're invited too – unless you don't like goat curry."

"Huh?"

"New Indian buffet."

"Sounds great… So what's the problem?"

"I'm, uh, not sure what to… I mean, it's… See, you and me—"

"You don't want them to know we're screwing each other."

"Shego!"

"That's what you mean, isn't it?"

"It's not that I'm ashamed of what we're doing—"

"You just don't want to mess up your good girl image."

Kim wasn't sure what was happening. Shego didn't sound angry, it sounded more like teasing. "We're new… I'm new… I'm still trying to sort out—"

"And if there's some cute guy there you'll drop me like a rock?"

"No! I just don't know what to say to Monique and—"

"Tell them the truth," Shego suggested and held the back of her hand up to her forehead in a look of mock anguish, "tell them you're ashamed of me and our tawdry affair."

"No!"

"It's okay, Kim. I've been hurt before. Never as deeply as this. I'll probably drown my sorrows in cheap gin and then step in front of a bus so you'll never have to admit knowing me."

"Why do you play with my head like this?" Kim groaned.

Shego shrugged, "Why should your boobs and ass have all the fun?"

"This isn't fun! I like you! I'm not ashamed of you! But I'm still trying to figure this out and I don't—"

"Don't tell them we're having sex."

"I'll be honest with them. I just don't know how to say it."

"Don't tell them."

"I told you, I'm not ashamed of you, just—"

"And I'm telling you, don't say anything. Seriously."

"You're ashamed of me?"

Shego laughed, "No, Princess, I'd never be ashamed of you. I told you, this deep cover assignment is dangerous. I don't know how long it'll last. I hope my cover doesn't get blown. But if my cover gets blown and anyone knows a connection between us, you're in danger."

"It's really that dangerous?"

"Could be, if my cover gets blown. Just knowing me could put you in danger."

"I'm worried about you. How long will this last?"

"I don't know. It's like that surveillance thing. I may get what Global Justice needs in a few weeks. I hope to God I don't have to stay undercover for years."

"So do I," Kim said, drawing her close, "I'm getting kind of fond of you."

"You're just saying that 'cause I'm cheaper than new batteries for your vibrator."

"Cheaper? You think you're cheaper? Food, entertainment, extra laundry. You're way more expensive than new batteries."

"Okay, maybe batteries are cheaper. But I'm more fun – right?"

"Much more fun," Kim agreed and gave her a kiss.

"So, how am I supposed to behave?"

"Huh?"

"I was flirting with Bonnie last time. Will she think that's normal? Should do it again? Should I not do it? What if she takes me up on an offer? Want a ménage à trois?"

"She will not take you up on the offer. I do not want a ménage à trois with her—"

"You sure? I mean, you didn't think you wanted sex with me, but now you seem to enjoy it."

"I can't take you anywhere, can I? Don't say anything. They'll think you were just joking around last time… You were just joking around last time about asking them for sex, right?"

"Maybe."

"It is a little known fact that Kim Possible is a very selfish young woman. She does not like to share her playthings with others."

"So I'm your plaything now?"

"Do you mind?"

"I guess not. The hours are good and the fringe benefits wonderful. Want me to get, 'Property of Kim Possible' tattooed on my ass?"

"No, you're going undercover remember?"

"Oh, great idea just hit me. Instead of me going undercover – let's do it on the couch."

It was not a great Indian buffet. Shego predicted it would close in six months. Kim and Monique doubted it would last that long. Bonnie guessed it would do very well, "A lot of tourists come to the Square who won't know any better – and a lot of students have no clue what good Indian tastes like."

To Monique's relief Shego engaged in no flirting or suggestive language. _"I'm glad she's stopped trying to embarrass Kim."_

When Kim and Shego left Bonnie stared in disbelief at the departing car. _"Kim and Shego having sex? I can't believe it. Did Monique pick that up?"_

As Shego's vacation drew to a close Kim became increasingly concerned, "When will I see you again?"

"I'm not sure. The next couple months I'll be working my way in. I hope they give some vacation time, but I don't know what or when it'll be."

"Can you call?"

"No. Oh, you're off my cell phone."

"I'm worried about you."

Shego sighed, "There's a Captain Constellation website. I post on the forum as Princess Aura. Global Justice will—"

"You watched Captain Constellation?"

"I watched reruns with my… She watched reruns with her dad. She remembers them—"

"You remember them. You are real, and they're real memories – your memories. You're a real live boy now, remember?"

Shego put her arms around Kim, "Would you like me better as a real live boy."

"Boy, girl… I like you just the way you are."

Kim joined the forum that night as RedShirtGuy088.

"Just don't reply directly to me, okay?" Shego made her promise.

"I promise."

"And if I make fun of you 'cause you're a noob, don't take it personally."

Other than missing Shego, Kim found her life improving that fall. Her training had been noticed by the martial arts team, who drafted her. She picked up several new friends in the senior class. She discovered Tony's new boyfriend could cook as well as Ron and loved an appreciative audience. She and Ron suffered two slight failures in communication – but worked through them in a couple days instead of months. She flew out to Go City to watch a football game. She still didn't like Shego, but suspected it was her earlier jealousy still at work. She also suspected the younger Shego was jealous of her and her friendship with Ron, but Kim didn't do anything deliberately to provoke her. Shego asked her to talk to Ron about Team Go, which Kim refused to do. "Let him decide what he wants to do for himself."

As Kim looked at the Captain Constellation forum she always wondered if there was some sort of coded message hidden in the posts by Princess Aura, or if the simple fact there was a post was intended to let Global Justice know Shego was safe. Kim looked for hidden messages in the posts, and thought she caught a few meant for her.


	18. Is Life a Boon?

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**Is Life a Boon?**

A 'leave of absence' thread on Captain Constellation carried a note from Princess Aura warning she'd be out of town for a few days and unable to post. Kim quickly dialed Middleton, "Mom, looks like I won't make it home for Thanksgiving."

"We were counting on you being here."

"I'm trying to graduate this spring. I'm taking extra classes."

"I know. You've been neglecting us the last couple years."

"I'm sorry. But this is important."

"It doesn't have anything to do with Shego being here, does it? I thought the two of you made peace."

"Shego's going to be there?"

"Yes. It was a rather odd call. Very fast. But I said she was welcome."

"I guess I could bring my work home with me."

"If you're uncomfortable with Shego being here I can keep her busy in the kitchen with me."

"No, that's okay. I mean, we did make peace last Spring. If I stayed out here she'd think I hated her or something."

"So there is no problem with her being here?"

"None at all, Mom. You're wonderful. No problem with Shego being there." "Unless she catches us in bed together," her subconscious mind reminded her. "No sex," her conscious mind warned her sternly, "too much chance of getting caught. It's wrong to do it at home." "SEX! YES!" her id screamed.

"Someone is in a happy mood," Tony commented as Kim ate dinner at his apartment the evening before her flight to Middleton.

"It's my artichoke dip," his boyfriend told him.

"I love you, Dear. I love your artichoke dip. But even your artichoke dip couldn't make her smile like that." He turned to Kim, "You're going to get laid over break, aren't you?"

Kim blushed and mumbled, "Maybe."

"Someone new or the guy who makes your eyes light up? The one with the cute brothers you never introduced me to?"

"If you're trying to make me jealous, it's working," Tony's new boyfriend sniffed.

"What makes your artichoke dip so good?" Kim asked to change the subject.

The flight to Middleton was routine. It was wonderful to see her family again. Kim and Shego felt like they had been very discrete during dinner – a couple times patting each other on the leg under the table, but nothing that anyone else could have seen.

"James, please take Jim and Tim out for ice cream," Anne told her husband at the end of the meal.

"Mom!" Tim protested.

"The pie will still be here when you get home."

"Upperton, again?" James sighed.

"Upperton again, and drive extra slowly."

"Neither of you two even think of moving," Anne warned Kim and Shego as the men left.

Kim felt a sense of vague Lovecraftian fear and glanced at Shego with a look of, "Did you say anything?"

Shego correctly interpreted the look, and shook her head, "No."

Anne let the two sit nervously as she waited to hear the car leave the driveway. "I didn't realize how well the two of you made peace last spring," she said dryly.

"What do you mean, Mom?"

"You didn't leave any bruises, but that's your lipstick on Shego's throat."

"What?" Kim looked to Shego, but the pale woman had already put her hand to her throat.

"It's, uh, my lipstick," Shego explained, "I must have, ah, slipped and got some on my fingers or… Wait, I remember, I put on too much. I must have gotten some on my fingers when I wiped the excess—"

"It is Kim's color, not yours."

"She must have washed her face and left some on the washcloth when she got in. I washed before dinner and—"

Anne closed her eyes and a pained expression crossed her face. "While I would appreciate either of your lies being true I would prefer you not mistake me for an idiot and tell me the truth."

"Maybe I was just very happy to see her?" Kim suggested timidly.

"Very happy," Anne agreed. "Very, very, happy it would seem. Very, very, very happy. Judging by the guilty expressions on both your faces I'm going to guess very, very, very, very happy."

"We, uh, haven't had time to get that happy yet," Shego admitted. "Should I leave under my own power or would you prefer to throw me out into the street?"

"I would prefer to know the truth."

Anne sighed as they finished the story. "Shego, I don't understand why you came here."

"Yeah, I don't understand that either," Kim seconded.

"My assignment is out East. There's a chance I might have been seen with you. I figured—"

"You're close to me? Why haven't you come to see me?"

"Because it's dangerous, remember?"

"More dangerous than sleeping with her under my roof," Anne asked.

"You could just stay in my apartment," Kim whispered.

"In addition to not being an idiot," her mother reminded Kim, "I also hear perfectly well."

"Do you want me to leave now?" Shego asked again.

"Your leaving now would raise more questions from the twins than I want to answer. Kim is an adult. Who she sleeps with is her business. I am uncomfortable with her sleeping with you here. Shego you will remain in the guest bedroom. I don't believe it would do me any good to ask you two to not have sex while you're here. But your brothers are not adults and the two of you will kindly be so discrete that you don't raise any suspicions in their minds. Think you can manage that?"

"Yes," Shego promised.

"Kim?"

"Yes, Mom."

"I also suggest you not wear lipstick while you're home. You either, Shego."

They both nodded.

"And Kim?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"As a further incentive for the two of you to be careful, I don't want your father to suffer a heart attack. I have grown very fond of him over the years."

Kim might have preferred sleeping with her arms around Shego, but there was something exciting about the pale woman pouncing on her at one in the morning and their mutual frantic efforts to make no noise.

Anne insisted they go out for lunch with her the day before Shego left. "I've had a few days to think about the two of you," Anne began.

Anne fell silent. Shego waited a minute before asking, "And?"

"And I've got no idea what to think or say. I don't know whether I should tell your father or simply let this run its course and forget it ever happened. What are your feelings towards each other?"

The two younger women glanced nervously at each other and said nothing.

"Ah, young lust," Anne sighed. "Raging hormones meet raging hormones in a sex-induced haze that doesn't allow the brain to function."

"Yeah, pretty much," Shego agreed.

"I was being sarcastic."

"Sorry."

"Shego… I'm still upset with both of you for not being honest with me. I won't invite you for Christmas… Would you get time off from whatever mission you're on?"

"I don't think so."

"That makes things easier. If you're still seeing each other in the Spring… Please, give me some warning. Like I said, Kim is an adult. I can't tell her who she can sleep with. I would prefer the two of you not be having sex. But I won't make Kim chose between family and you." She turned to Kim, "Let me know and I'll figure out some way of breaking it to your father. Maybe you can stay in the same room. That might be easier on my nerves that listening to you at one in the morning."

"I thought we were pretty quiet," Kim muttered.

"If I'd been asleep I doubt you would have awakened me, but I didn't sleep very well the last few nights."

"Sorry Anne." "Sorry Mom."

The next morning Anne made sure Shego was not wearing lipstick before letting Kim drive her to the airport for her flight.

On a cold January evening Kim arrived back at her apartment after classes to find a pair of boots just inside her door. A few feet further a black sweater lay on the floor. Beyond the sweater, where the hall turned toward the bedroom, lay a pair of green stretch pants. Kim followed the trail to find Shego in her bed, naked except for the rose between her teeth and a stick-on bow on her stomach.

"Why the bow?"

Shego took the rose out from between her teeth, "You complained I didn't bring you anything last time I came."

Kim sighed, "What am I going to do with you?"

"I think you have a pretty good idea," Shego smirked. "The question is, why are you still in your clothes?"

Kim started to take off her blouse, and Shego pulled her into the bed to help undress her.

As Shego began to run her hands and lips on Kim's body the redhead reached for her jeans and dug her cell phone out of a pocket.

"What are you doing?"

"Canceling dinner," Kim explained as she hit speed dial.

_ "Hello?"_

"Tony, darling, I can't make dinner."

_ "You're passing on linguini with white clam sauce?"_

"Sorry, I- Ooohhh," Kim moaned as Shego's tongue found an especially sensitive spot.

_ "You sound like you're having a good time."_

"Oh yeah," Kim panted. "Something came up."

_ "Between his legs, I'll bet. The one who makes your eyes light up?"_

"Oh yeah… Oh yeah… Oh yeah…"

_ "Am I ever going to get a name for your boytoy?"_

"Vegas…" Kim moaned, "Vegas."

_ "I'm not sure if that's his name or where you met him. So, since you aren't doing anything important at the moment, want to discuss your views of Cartesian dualism?"_

Kim hung up.

An hour later, after the exchange of gifts, Kim asked, "Can we get dressed and I'll take you out for dinner?"

"No. I'm taking you up on your offer to let me stay here out of sight. We need to order delivery."

"Can you tell me anything that won't violate security?"

Shego shrugged, "I'll tell you what you've probably already guessed while we wait for food to arrive."

"Working with Drakken gave me quite a reputation," Shego told Kim as they sat on the couch and the redhead flipped through the channels looking for background noise while they waited on pizza. "I never came up at the trial and never testified or anything. People figure I escaped.  
"And since no one knows I ended up at Global Justice either it wasn't that hard to get a job with a group Global Justice wanted inside information on."

"But it would look bad if you were seen with former hero Kim Possible."

"You're still a hero," Shego told her. "You just let yourself get out—"

Kim kissed Shego before she could say, 'out of shape'.

Eight days later Shego was back in Kim's apartment and bed for the night. "They're starting to trust me, give me a little more freedom," the green woman explained. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Not a bit," Kim purred as she cuddled in Shego's arms. "I'm ready to tell Monique and Bonnie we're sleeping together now."

"Remember, you need to wait until this assignment is over."

"They won't tell anyone. I want to tell them."

"Working up to telling your dad? You've already told your gay friend?"

"Uh, actually Tony thinks you're a guy."

"What? You told him I was a guy?"

"He assumed you were a guy. I met him while I was in a 'I need a studly man' phase and he just assumed you were my studly man."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm serious. He was the one who jumped to conclusions. I didn't say anything."

"And you didn't say anything to correct him either."

"Tony seems to like thinking about studly men."

"You're impossible."

"No. Apparently I'm bi. It's kind of neat. I can like both men and women."

"I'm going to have 'property of Shego' tattooed on your ass."

"You want to brand me so I don't stray? You want to keep me?"

Shego said nothing, but her arms tightened slightly around the younger woman, _"God. I wish I could keep you."_

It was a little more than a week until Shego's next visit, and less than a week until another.

They lay in bed together. Kim propped herself up on her left arm and slowly traced the forefinger of her right hand around Shego's lips. "You are so beautiful," she breathed softly.

"So are you."

"I told Ron I was sleeping with you. I had to. And I told him to keep it secret - you know he will."

"I trust him. How'd he take it?"

"I'm not sure he believed me… I told you he was sleeping with the other you, didn't I?"

"Yeah. Neither of us had any trouble believing that."

"He's really serious."

"I can believe he's serious. I can't believe she… Maybe I'm wrong. This shared memory thing is weird. The guys I remember were just interested in one thing—"

"Unlike you, who has no interest in sex at all."

"Quiet, Possible," Shego growled. "I think a guy like Ron is just what she needs."

"He seems happy."

"When you have a guy by the balls the heart will follow."

"I think we're wasting a lot of time talking about the two of them," Kim announced, and leaned over to kiss Shego.

Kim was awakened by a persistent knocking on her door a few nights later. Half-asleep she stumbled to the door. Shego had a key… But Kim had put the chain on the door. She opened the door the length of the chain, "Who is it?"

The heavy-set man hit the door hard with his shoulder, pulling the chain from the frame and knocking Kim to the floor. The two men behind him, with drawn guns, wanted to do their job quickly – in case the noise had awakened anyone else in the apartment building. "Come with us," they ordered.

Kim realized arguing would have been a poor choice.

At the end of an hour's drive in the trunk of a car she recognized the man with the brown hair and the eye patch who confronted her.

"Gemini," she said coldly. "I figured you were in prison."

"Global Justice still believes that double is the real me?"

"Global Justice? What are you talking about?"

"You pretend you aren't working for Global Justice?"

"I'm in college. I haven't done any hero work in a couple years."

He shrugged, "A pity, if true. Still, you deserve elimination for the problems you caused the Worldwide Evil Empire years ago." He turned to a man at the side of the room, "Zeta, summon Delta."

Kim's heart beat faster when Delta arrived. The WEE uniform clearly covered the body of a woman.

"You recognize Kim Possible, of course."

"Of course," Shego replied. "She and I have been enemies for years."

"Enemies you say?"

"Certainly. We hate each other."

"You were followed to her apartment building."

"She lives in Tony's apartment building?"

"You didn't know?"

"Certainly not. I'd have beat the crap out of her for old times sake… No. I wouldn't have. I wouldn't want to draw attention to WEE. I am a loyal soldier for the cause."

"Very commendable," Gemini murmured. "Apparently we kidnapped her by mistake. She must be eliminated."

"She could be kept as a hostage," Shego suggested.

"She claims to not be working for Global Justice. That means she has no value as a hostage."

"She could be lying."

"Whether she is lying or not, Kim Possible is a danger who must be killed."

"If she is lying she might have information of value for WEE. It is our duty to interrogate her."

"She is a woman with a resolve almost as firm as my sister's. She will tell us nothing."

"But—"

"My mind is made up." Gemini told Shego, and tossed her a pistol. "Since you hate her I will give you a rare present. Shoot Kim Possible."


	19. Here Is a Case Unprecedented

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**Here Is a Case Unprecedented**

"You really want me to..." Shego asked in disbelief.

"Shoot her. Yes. She's your enemy, kill her."

Shego quickly aimed the pistol at Gemini. "Let her go."

The man with the eye patch turned to other agents in WEE uniforms. "Train your weapons on Ms. Possible."

"I'll shoot," Shego threatened.

"You might," Gemini conceded, "if the gun were loaded."

"It's a test, you idiot," Kim groaned. "You should have tried to shoot me."

"Well what if it had been loaded?"

"You could have tried to wing me."

"The two of you may continue your discussion from your cells. Keep your weapons trained on Ms. Possible," he told the agents, "it appears it will keep the former Agent Delta under control."

Shego breathed a sigh of relief, Kim was safe and no cell could hold her for long. Gemini seemed to guess her thoughts. He held a hand up to stop his men for a moment. "Do you remember those tests we ran on you when you first joined – when we said we needed to know the full extent of your powers?

Shego nodded.

"We were also evaluating what it would require to hold you, should the need arise. Most members of WEE joined for ideological reasons."

"That's a lie," Shego snorted.

"It is quite true. As a mercenary your devotion to the cause was always suspect. While you were unusually efficient there was always the chance someone would make you a more lucrative offer." He waved his hand and the guards escorted the two women to the holding area.

There was no lock to pick on Shego's cell. The electronic controls for the green woman's cell stood about seven meters from the cell itself. So confident were their guards that the man who keyed in the code to open the cell didn't even try to hide it from Kim. Gemini monitored their arrival through a camera mounted on the wall, and spoke a word of welcome into the microphone by his chair. "I hope you will forgive the Spartan accommodations. But perhaps you won't be staying with us very long. We will evaluate your worth to us and decide on the length of your stay."

"Is he always that melodramatic?" Kim whispered to the guard who locked her into her conventional cell.

"Pretty much," he whispered in a voice low enough to keep the video camera from picking it up.

Kim took a few minutes to look her cell over. As holding cells for villains wanting world domination went it wasn't bad – there was a partition to give the prisoner a bit of privacy when on the toilet and there didn't appeared to be any nozzles for spraying gas into the cell or laser death rays mounted in the ceiling light. As she looked it over she heard a few explosions from a nearby cell.

"Well," Kim called to Shego – in a cell on the other side of the holding room and not directly across from her, "can it really contain your plasma power?"

"Tried heat and concussive blasts," Shego answered. "Looks like they did a really good job."

"I will make a note of that," Gemini's sardonic voice sounded over the loudspeaker. "The R and D department deserves a raise."

"You should have shot me, you know," Kim scolded Shego.

"I couldn't shoot you."

"Why not? You could have wounded me or something. Then you could have rescued me."

"Damn it, Kim, I love you."

"You love me?"

"Yes, I love you. And there is no way in hell I could shoot you. Not even a little bit."

"They say you always hurt the one you love."

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't apply here."

Gemini's voice came out of the speaker again, "Wait a minute. You said you loved her?"

"Yes."

"That is a ridiculous cover story."

"What are you talking about?" Kim demanded.

"My mole in Global Justice suspects my sister planted a spy in my organization. The fact Shego went to you as her contact proves she is the spy."

"I don't work for Global Justice," Kim insisted.

"And I went to see her for a night of wild sex. I love her."

"And your story is impossible," Gemini insisted. "You two are enemies. You tried to kill her. The idea of you two entering into a relationship is absurd. No rational person could consider it. She was obviously intended for that blond guy she used to hang around with - whatever his name was."

"Anyone who can't accept people change is an idiot," Shego snarled. "Kim was my enemy. Fine. We got over it. I love her, and that's the reason I went to see her."

"You're telling me she is not an agent of Global Justice?"

"Not that I know of. How in the hell do I know who belongs to Global Justice. I was there to make love."

"If you are telling the truth it appears I may have made a mistake in ordering her capture and your incarceration."

"Thank you, Mr. Obvious. Can I get out of jail free now?"

"Terribly sorry, but it doesn't work that way. You did point a gun at me and were insubordinate. I'm afraid I have to have you killed as an example. Can't have you aim a weapon at me and survive - it would set a most unfortunate precedent."

"Wonderful," Kim muttered.

"Oh, but one piece of good news," Gemini announced.

"And that is?"

"Well, if you're not Global Justice agents it means you have little potential value as hostages. Your stay in the cells will probably be a short one."

Gemini returned to other business. Shego waited a few minutes before saying, "Kim?"

"Yes."

"I said I love you. How do you feel about me?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, there're times I feel like you only got in bed with me because you're lonely and desperate. It would be nice to hear you say–"

"This is not a great time to talk."

"I happen to know you aren't working on a paper at the moment, what's the problem?"

"Have you noticed that we're being held prisoner by an egomaniacal madman?"

"Yes. What's your point?"

"It rather kills the mood."

"Hypothetically speaking, where would you rather discuss the subject – in bed after we've just had an intense session of sex and I can sigh with happiness when you express your deepest feelings – or a very expensive restaurant where I can't make a scene when you dump me?"

"Do I get my choice of beds? I really need to clean my apartment."

"I'll rent the bridal suite for the best hotel in Providence after we get out of here."

"That will be nice. But if you don't mind, I'm still trying to figure out how to break out of my cell right now. You're still experimenting in yours, aren't you?"

"Yes I am, but no success so far."

Kim's cell wouldn't have held Shego for two minutes, but the metal bars were too strong for Kim who had nothing but her bare hands and the blankets on the cot for tools.

"I'd ask for a lesson on lock picking," Kim called, "But that probably takes some kind of tool, doesn't it?"

"Wire is very nice. You can order some when they ask what you want to eat."

"Who wrote that poem about 'stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage'?"

"I don't know. You're the college girl."

"It strikes me that he was a moron."

Shego groaned, "I'd like to strike you for a comment like that."

Kim wondered why she hadn't thought of it sooner, "I'll bet that cell they put you in cost a lot of money."

"I imagine that's true. Looks like they got their money's worth."

"What I'm saying is, they had to put you in that one, right? They surely don't have two."

Shego took the hint. She peered out between whatever plasma-proof material formed the bars on her cell. Kim waved to make sure Shego knew which cell held her.

"One?" Kim asked

"Two," Shego yawned deliberately. "The more sleep the better. You'd better not try and interfere with mine."

"I'll stay out of your way," Kim promised, "Trust me. I know better than to let you hurt me."

The two women lay on their cots and tried to rest during the day. When not sleeping they also made and discarded plans in their minds. They did their level best to make monitor duty as dull as possible for whoever had been assigned the task of watching them.

Kim had managed to fall asleep by two in the morning, when the plasma blast from Shego took out the front of her cell. Kim quickly stepped over the debris and punched in the code opening Shego's prison.

"Thanks," Shego told her, and blasted the video camera trained on them and the control panel for her cell, leaving it inoperable.

"Out the ventilating system?" Kim suggested.

"No way. A, It's not big enough. B, They'll be expecting it. And C. You couldn't think of a bigger cliché?"

"I used to get into Drakken's lairs-"

"This isn't one of Drakken's lairs. But jerk the cover off. Make them think we're in the system. They'll waste time looking for us."

"I still think–"

"Oh, and D., I've been here for months checking the place out. Trust me, Princess, when I tell you it's not an option. If it was I'd have been sneaking out to see you more often."

"Since you know the place, what do we do?"

"Right now you pull the grill off the vent. I need to knock out the four guards who're about to come through that door behind us."

"Need any help?"

"No, but thanks for the offer."

By the time Kim had the ventilator shaft open three guards lay unconscious on the floor. "I'm insulted," Shego complained. "Gemini should have posted more guards."

"What do we do?"

"We open the doors on the other end of the holding cell, so they can't be sure where we went - and then we hide in our cells."

"What?"

"After breaking out, and with the guards lying unconscious here they're not going to look for us in the cells we escaped from. In four hours we'll talk about the next step."

"You open the doors, I'll strip the uniforms off these guys."

"Is there a reason you suddenly got kinky - or do you want to check out their junk?"

"If they think I'm in a WEE uniform they may mess themselves up while they're looking for us."

"Good thinking."

As Kim stripped the last of the three guards, and wished he hadn't gone commando, Shego pushed open the door on the other side of the cell bay area, sounding another alarm since she hadn't put the code on the key pad. With the blanket down over the edge of her cot to keep her out of sight Kim rolled under the cot and up against the wall. Shego decided to sit on the privacy of her 'throne' in the screened off toilet.

Kim was not impressed with WEE efficiency; it was a full nine minutes before more guards arrived, although the early arrivals might have waited for the safety of numbers. Fully a dozen of them crowded the limited area in the middle of the room surrounded by cells. Ten looked around nervously as two others tried to rouse the original three.

"Ventilator shaft is open," one said - pointing to what everyone could see and knew.

"Yeah, but the alarm went off when they opened that door," another said, pointing.

"Just a distraction," a third guessed. "I'll bet they went that way." He pointed towards the door the three guards on duty had entered.

"And what happened to these guys' uniforms?"

"The redhead's probably dressed like a WEE agent now. Don't trust nobody."

"But she'd only need one. Why'd they take three?"

"Maybe somebody broke in to help them," one nervous agent suggested.

The occasional sound of gunfire in the distance as WEE agents confronted one another was one of the factors which kept Kim from a restful sleep. The other was the call of nature that she couldn't answer for fear WEE agents might make a shortcut through the holding area during their search. She wished she had followed Shego's lead in terms of hiding places. Shego sat uncomfortably on her 'throne' wishing she had followed Kim's example. She wanted a nap and couldn't take one sitting up.

At six Shego cautiously lifted the blanket on Kim's cot, "We need to talk."

"After I hit the toilet."

Shego was waiting for her under the cot. The space was too crowded for the two to stay together long, but they had a hurried conversation in whispers.

"What is this place?'

"Sort of a Sam's Club for terrorists. Ideology doesn't matter, they'll sell you any weapon they've got - and they've got everything."

"Why doesn't someone stop them?"

"We want the names and locations of everyone they're selling to."

"How do we get out?"

"Told you, this place is a fortress. It would take an army to get in here - and probably one to get out. They've got the three entrances clamped down tight now. They want us. If we escape they have to move it all."

"Stay low 'til they think we've escaped?"

"They may do a systematic search before that. Someone might get a clue. I think a little more chaos would be good. And if I can make it to the storage areas and blow up some stuff - even better."

"Want me to get in a WEE uniform?"

"Yeah, I… No, stay like you are. I captured you - you're my prisoner. I have a gun pointed at you."

"Great. Now you'll shoot me. Why couldn't you shoot me earlier when it mattered?"

"I'm not going to shoot you. Let's try not to be seen too close to here. We'll try to cause problems and get back here while they're looking elsewhere."

Kim gave her a kiss for luck.

They made it halfway to the weapons before encountering any WEE agents. The Kim as prisoner ploy seemed to work well. Half a dozen agents were knocked out, stripped of their uniforms and the uniforms of five stuffed into incinerator chutes. The sixth looked like it would fit Kim very well, "And when any of those guys wake up they'll spread the news I'm not in a uniform."

Shego nodded and Kim quickly slipped on the purple uniform.

"Wow," Kim said softly as she looked at stacks, and crates, and racks of guns, bombs, ammunition, mines, shoulder-fired missiles and things she couldn't immediately identify. Shego looked the selection over, and picked up a conventional grenade.

"Want to do the honors, Princess?"

"Honors?"

"Toss out the first grenade. I'd advise over there," she pointed. "Cause a lot of noise and a bit of destruction but not too bad. Toss it over in that stuff," Shego pointed to the other side of the huge store area, "and Massachusetts will have a new bay the size of Rhode Island."

"Nothing like putting a little pressure on me," Kim muttered.

"Toss the grenade and run like hell," Shego advised.

"What will you be doing?"

"I've got a back way to the cells. I know this place. I hope to cause a little more chaos before I get back."

"You aren't going to do anything stupidly brave, are you?"

"You obviously have me confused with someone else. You know how to use a grenade or not?"

"Pull the pin, count five, and throw?"

"Only if you're worried about some enemy picking it up and throwing it back at you. Doesn't apply here. Pull the pin - roll it over there immediately, and run like hell."

"Check." Kim glanced up to ask another question, but Shego was gone. The redhead sighed, pulled the pin, rolled the grenade, and ran.

She was making good time when she turned a corner and saw five WEE agents coming toward her. "Run!" she screamed, "they're right behind me!" and ran straight through the group and kept on going. The group hesitated, then turned to run themselves.

Which is when the blast hit.

The force of the explosion knocked all six off their feet. Kim, the only one expecting the blast and forty yards further away, rolled to her feet and kept on running. Three of the WEE agents stayed down. Two of the agents staggered to their feet.

"What happened?"

"What did you say?"

"I can't hear you."

"What?"

Her ears still ringing Kim rolled beneath the cot. She hoped Shego had made it back. That hope was reinforced as gunfire echoed through the corridors for the next three hours. With WEE apparently under assault from within, by an unknown enemy, and a dozen uniforms having been stolen no one knew who to trust. Kim's hearing gradually returned to normal. She heard a couple groups move through the holding area. An eerie silence fell over the WEE stronghold, and then the lights went out.

Kim lay in the darkness for about a half hour, wondering what to do, when she noticed a green glow coming from the further door into the holding area. She slipped out from under the bed. On another day she might have hidden and tried to surprise Shego. Today she just wanted assurance the other woman was fine. "Shego?"

"Jesus, Kim, do you have to give yourself away like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if it was Gemini with a green flashlight or something?"

"Then I'd kick him in the rear. You okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a day in the life of us suave secret agent types."

"So what happened?"

"WEE decided they were under attack and took off. Explosions had the SWAT teams there. There are also a few GJ agents at monitoring positions outside. I think most of the WEE agents were rounded up as they tried to run. This base got closed down with no causalities among the good guys."

"But you were trying to get information on the locations of terrorists groups. That was your mission."

"Well, while you were cowering in fear I grabbed every hard drive and anything else I could with records. If I'm lucky we got it, but GJ will have to move fast."

"I'm going back to my apartment and sleeping for a day. Or you can come back with me and we won't sleep at all."

Shego gave Kim a kiss, "Wonderful as that sounds I'm going to have massive debriefing. I think some reporters got the word on the police action. Global Justice can claim me, but you'll probably be in the papers or TV tomorrow."

"I don't want to be on the news."

"Why not?"

"I'm not ready to come out to my dad about us yet, remember? He'll want to know why WEE grabbed me, and there is no good way to explain that without you in the story."

"You serious?"

"Absolutely. Can you get me out of here without anyone seeing me?"

"Global Justice and the cops are watching too closely to get out unseen. But GJ can smuggle you out without the reporters seeing anything. I'll call you an anonymous civilian prisoner. I'll say you don't want your name in the paper 'cause you were cheating on your husband."

"Why do you need to say anything?"

"In case they ask why the innocent anonymous civilian was there."

"Can I be a mistake? They meant to grab someone else?"

"You never let me have any fun."

"You want fun? It's about three weeks 'til Spring Break. Think you can get some time off after this mission?"

"Probably. Can I take you somewhere warm and sunny?"

"No, you can go home with me for a fun-filled week in Middleton."

"You are sick and twisted."

"Okay, only if Mom lets us sleep in the same room. Warm and sunny if she says no."

"I can live with that."

"And do you remember promising me a night in the bridal suite at the best hotel in Providence?"

"Best hotel," Shego mused. "That could get expensive. Think you're worth it?"

Kim's tongue slowly traced its way around Shego's ear, "What do you think?" she whispered.


	20. Towards the Empyrean Heights

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**Towards the Empyrean Heights**

"God, I'm scared," Shego confessed as she held Kim's hand while the plane landed in Middleton and taxied to the terminal. "I'd rather take on another WEE base than this."

"You'll do fine," Kim assured her and squeezed the older woman's hand.

James and Anne were waiting inside the terminal. Kim and Shego's stomachs tightened. Kim's father didn't look happy and the smile on Anne seemed forced, but they were both there and her mother was trying to look pleased to see them. Kim hugged her dad. "It's good to be home." His face brightened slightly and he put his arms around her and returned the hug.

"Can I help with dinner tonight?" Shego offered Anne.

Anne's smile appeared sincere as she answered, "That would be lovely."

Kim tried to make a joke as they waited by the baggage carousel. "At least Dad and the Tweebs can have pie with us tonight."

"No more surprises?" Anne replied. "I'm in favor of that."

"So, a bad time to tell you I'm pregnant?" Shego asked. "Kim's going to be a father."

"Shego!" Kim exclaimed in exasperation and slapped the woman's shoulder. "Don't do that."

"That's not true, is it?" James asked nervously.

"No dad, we're both women- remember?"

"This is your own fault, Dear," Anne told him. "You were always telling her 'No boys'."

Kim relaxed slightly at the fact her mother could try and joke about the situation. Despite the attempt at humor the mood in the car riding home still wasn't comfortable. Kim doubted it would become truly comfortable during the visit. But the worst of the tension seemed over and everyone appeared to want to get along. There would be teasing from Tweebs, but as long as her mother and father tried to accept Shego Kim could endure her brothers.

That night they lay in Kim's bed and made plans for the visit. "I think Bonnie is in Cozumel for break, but Monique's in town. We should see her."

"How about the kid who was always losing his pants?"

"You know Ron's name."

"Yeah, but my way is funnier."

"He planned to stay in Go City and study. He's really trying to avoid the dumb jock stereotype."

Shego snorted, "Oh sure, like–"

"Hush," Kim warned. "He was never dumb, he was just lazy. Shego is keeping him focused."

Shego laughed, "I can see it now. 'Ron, finish your English and I'll take off my top. Finish history and I take off my jeans. Finish the geography assignment and I'll let you go exploring on your own.' That'd give him incentive."

"Hey, how come you've never done that for me?"

"Because you're the dedicated one who always insists on getting her work done first. Doesn't matter how horny I am, you have to–"

"I need it too."

"But do you ever do anything about it until after you finish your assignments?"

"No."

"See?"

"And then there are no distractions. I don't worry about homework; I can devote myself to taking care of your desires."

"And having your own taken care of as well."

"Of course… I think I liked it better last November when you were in the guest room."

"Why?"

Kim snuggled up by Shego, "There was thrill of wondering when you'd sneak in so we could make love."

"Are you trying to tell me that with your Mom and Dad sleeping forty feet away and your brothers knowing we're in bed together you're too nervous for anything tonight?"

"Yeah, sorry. Maybe tomorrow night."

Shego nuzzled Kim's ear. "Or maybe I'll surprise you at one in the morning."

They spent most of their first full day in Middleton with Monique. In the evening Kim tried to read a book for her political science class - and Anne suggested Shego forcibly drag the younger woman off to see a movie, or roller skate, or throw rocks at passing police cars - "She has got to learn to relax."

Shego purchased tickets for the biggest bomb playing at the Middleton Cinemaplex.

"I don't want to see that," Kim complained when Shego ordered the tickets at the box-office. "Why did you buy tickets for it?"

"Because, with any luck there won't be anyone else in the theater - and we can sit in the back and make out."

"You are so juvenile," Kim sighed.

"Want me to get my money back and you pick a movie you want to watch?"

"Ah… No. I mean; you already have the tickets and everything. Too much work to go back."

"So, you'll force yourself to sit in the dark and kiss me?"

"I suppose. If I must."

"With that kind of an attitude I should just watch the movie."

"I'll be good," Kim promised.

"Or bad? That's even better than good."

Anne took the next afternoon off to spend with Kim and Shego. As they drove home Anne spoke, "Shego, please don't take this wrong, but I think you and Kim should leave a couple days early. I think–"

"Mom!" Kim protested.

"Please let me finish. I like the two of you here. This is going better than I had imagined. But I think Shego should visit Go City. You can see Ron or one of the museums if you want, but she needs to see family there." She addressed Shego, "You should look up your brothers and–"

"They aren't my brothers."

"Yes they are. That's how you feel in your heart. Give them a call, your sister too."

"My sister?"

"That's what I'm calling the other Shego."

"They could have tried to contact me."

"Do they have any idea how?"

"No."

"Then you need to reach out first."

"What if they don't want to see me?"

"That would be their loss. But they may surprise you… Besides, you need see your mother and father."

There was a moment of silence before Shego said softly, "Yeah… Yeah, I do."

"I thought they were dead?" Kim whispered.

"They are… And it's been too long since I visited the cemetery."

The two flew to Go City on Friday, with Kim planning to return to the East Coast on Sunday.

Ron and Shego were waiting for Kim and Shego in the terminal. Shego clutched Ron's arm possessively when she saw Kim. Ron waved to catch the two women's attention. The older Shego felt a stab of jealousy when she saw Ron, he had filled out very well since high school. Kim waved back to Ron.

As Kim and Shego approached Shego impulsively let go of Ron and glomped onto her older self so enthusiastically that both women went to the floor in a tangle.

"What the hell?" Shego muttered.

"You're in Global Justice! I knew I was good."

"Jesus, doesn't anyone understand the concept of security," Shego swore. "Why don't you just take out a big ad in the paper with my picture and the caption, 'Undercover agent for Global Justice'?"

"I thought you weren't undercover anymore," Kim said as she offered a hand to help the older Shego up. "They were worried about your identity being burned or something."

"Okay, undercover, covert, whatever… Doesn't anybody know how to keep their mouth shut anymore?"

The younger Shego interrupted to bubble the news, "Hego is taking us out to dinner tonight. Wegos will be there! Family dinner!"

"Mego?"

Shego shrugged, "You know Mego."

The two Shegos laughed at the joke neither Kim nor Ron really understood.

The meal was less glamorous than Kim had imagined when Shego promised a family dinner. They ate at the Bueno Nacho where Hego served as manager.

Since the brothers knew her from their battles with Aviarius and Electronique they seemed to accept the older Shego, although there was tension, which included uncertainty over how to refer to the family relationship. Kim reported, "My mother has decided to call them sisters."

Wego looked at Wego and shrugged, "Works for me."

Wego nodded.

The conversation eventually drifted into family memories and catching up on recent activities - leaving Kim and Ron feeling out of place.

It was late when they all left Bueno Nacho. The younger Shego suggested going out for coffee with Kim and Shego, but Shego turned down the invitation. "We'll do a little shopping in the morning, then visit the cemetery in the afternoon."

"It's a plan," Shego agreed. "I wish there was room in my apartment for both of you to stay with me."

"That's okay," Kim assured her. "There were some good hotel prices on-line."

Ron was unable to find an excuse to avoid going shopping with the women. Rufus slept in a pocket as Ron did a fast check of the clearance racks so he could say he looked, then browsed in the kitchen and electronics sections.

In the afternoon Kim and Ron stood to the side as Shego and Shego talked quietly at the cemetery.

"Hego divided up the money from selling the property and the insurance settlement and put our share in trust."

"Our share?"

"You should have half of it."

Shego put an arm around her other self, "No… It's all yours."

"But–"

"No. Thanks for the offer, but it's yours, Sis. I don't deserve anything. Kinda makes me proud to be in the family though."

"I wasn't expecting you to turn it down."

"I don't turn down money from just anyone you know. I'm making an exception for you because you're family."

As the two Shegos stood and talked by the graves Kim and Ron realized they were in for another long evening.

"Hey," Ron called to the green women, "I'm going to show Kim around the campus, then I'll take her out for dinner. We'll catch up with you later, okay?"

Shegos looked at each other nervously, then one shrugged. "All right," the other said hesitantly.

"You can go out for dinner," Kim suggested. "Would eight be a good time for us to call and get back with you?"

"Um… Yeah, I guess so," the younger Shego answered.

"Think they can get all the family stuff and catching up out of the way before eight?" Ron whispered to Kim as they got out of earshot.

"I hope so… They'll probably still have a little left - but we should look interested. I got my fill of uncles and cousins and neighbors last night. Have you met any of those people?"

"A few," Ron admitted, "so it's probably worse for you. And it was awful for me."

The two Shegos stayed in the cemetery for almost two hours, running through their shared memories of their parents, then returned to the younger woman's apartment.

Shego tried to tell Shego about college, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere. Shego attempted to fill Shego in about her time with Global Justice, but she wasn't able to concentrate on the conversation either.

Finally the older Shego asked, "Okay, what's your problem? Where's your head - 'cause it isn't in this room now."

"Ron and Kim… Maybe they're lost… He doesn't know the city as well as–"

"He's been here for more than two years. He knows the city well enough.

"Oh."

Shego waited a minute, "Got another lie for me or want to try the truth?"

"I, uh, I just hope they're having a good time… Wondering what they're doing."

"Hoping it's not sex at his place. Tell me, your toothbrush over there or will I find his in your bathroom? Or do you each keep a toothbrush at the other's place. I'm surprised you haven't shacked up yet."

"Shego! How could you–"

"Come on, Sis. It's not exactly a secret."

"You haven't seen me in years! How did you know?"

"Kim told me. Ron told her."

"Ron told her! How could he do that?"

"Wait, are you saying you're not sleeping with Ron?"

"I'm wondering why he told Kim."

"They've been best friends forever, remember?"

"That's just wrong. And why did Kim tell you?"

"O-k-a-y," Shego said slowly, "Ron didn't tell you that Kim and I are sleeping together?"

Shego looked puzzled, "I heard you were sharing a hotel room… Is… No. I don't believe it."

"You don't believe we're sharing the same bed, and having a good time in it?"

"No, that's not possible."

"Why not?"

"Well, to point out the obvious, I don't like girls – I like guys."

"One of Drakken's alterations. Confused the heck out of me for awhile – having your memory of being with guys. I figured I was bi. Then I realized I didn't really want to be with guys and decided I'd only gone out with guys because that was what good girls did. I decided going bad let me find my own feelings."

"But… But… Shouldn't you get cured or something?"

"You want to be cured of liking Ron?"

"No!"

"Then why should I want to be cured of liking Kim?"

"Because it's not the same. I mean; that was something that got changed in you."

"It's the way I am. Look, I want to steal stuff. I may always want to steal stuff. But I don't because I know it'll get me locked up. I'll fight that urge. Hego and Wego annoy me, but they're family and nice guys even if they're irritating. I'll try to get along with them. But I'm not willing to pretend I love some guy because society says it's okay to love a guy but not a woman. I won't just make the motions in an unhappy relationship. I want to feel as good as when Van–"

"Don't mention him to Ron, okay?"

"Okay… Hey, did you look up Van? I'll bet he'd have loved to find you were–"

Shego blushed, "He's married now. Two kids… I think I'll always wonder what might have happened if… You know."

"You love Ron?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Then what might have happened is you wouldn't have Ron. If it makes you feel any better, I'm probably way more jealous than you. Kim and I haven't been together long and Kim is bi. I'm worried she'd probably prefer a guy to me."

"I didn't need to hear that," Shego muttered.

"Know where he might be… I mean, we could go out for dinner ourselves and run into them by accident. He got a favorite spot?"

"About five. I've got him chipped."

"You've got him chipped?"

"We read Hego's old Superman comics. Lois Lane was always getting kidnapped because she was Superman's girlfriend."

"You're as bad as Hego. That was a comic book. Who knows he's dating Shego?"

"Hey, by then it's too late."

At the Korean restaurant Kim excused herself from the table. "Where's she going?" Shego whispered to Shego.

"Probably bathroom."

The two continued to stare at Ron, but after a few minutes one commented, "She's been gone a long time."

"It's because she's curious why the two of you were spying on her." Kim whispered – causing the younger Shego to jump.

"She doesn't trust Ron," the older Shego said quickly, "I tried to tell her she should but–"

"But you were here with her," Kim pointed out.

"Just trying to keep her from disturbing your dinner with Ron," Shego assured her.

Shego glared at her older self.

"Why don't the two of you join us, you can listen to us talk about Middleton."

"What was happening?" Ron asked as the three women came to the table.

"Someone was jellin'," Kim told him.

The younger Shego went on the offensive. "You told her we were sleeping together," she said, indicating Kim. "Who else did you tell? Do you brag about it with the whole football team?"

"No! Kim's my–"

"And she told you she was sleeping with Shego. You didn't tell me. You don't trust me!"

"That's not true! I–"

"Yes it is! If you loved me you'd trust me." Shego turned and stormed from the restaurant.

Kim looked puzzled, "It looked to me like it was the two of you who didn't trust us," she told Shego.

Shego ignored Kim's remark and spoke to Ron, "Follow her, Tiger, it's a test. You need to apologize."

"But I didn't do anything wrong!" he protested.

"Doesn't matter. Still a test. If you want to pass you need to run after her and apologize. Bonus points if you catch her within a block and don't remind her she was spying on you."

"Dinner?" Kim sighed, pointing to Ron's now empty chair.

"Love to, Princess," Shego answered, sitting down.

"And you're paying for it. Ron was taking me out until you two showed up."

That spring Kim beat her brothers by a year to her bachelor's degree. Actually she received two, a B.S. and B.A. for her double major, after three years in college, and joined Global Justice. The first day of training for the new recruits was rugged.

"The drill instructor really didn't like you," the woman sitting across the table from Kim said as they ate dinner.

Kim shrugged, "Don't know why we couldn't get someone competent for training."

The woman sitting by Kim opened her eyes in surprise, "She's really like a super agent. I heard she took out WEE headquarters all by herself last spring."

"I can't believe that," Kim scoffed. "No one takes out a base by herself, unless there's no one there."

"No, really," the woman across from her fired back, "I heard the same thing. She's like this über-agent or something. I don't know why she was riding you. You were doing better than any of the rest of us, but she was on your case."

_"She likes riding me,"_ Kim thought, _"of course, the feeling is mutual."_ "I think she's got a serious ego problem and knows I'm not going to take any guff from her."

The woman sitting by Kim snorted, "Sounds like you know about serious ego problems firsthand."

"We'll see," Kim murmured and went back to chewing her dinner.

In the office of Elizabeth Director, Head of Global Justice, another chewing out was taking place.

"…and then she called Ms Possible a maggot," Agent Du told Dr. Director in a shocked voice.

"No one likes a tattle-tale, Willie-boy," Shego growled.

"Did you call Kim Possible a maggot?"

"Sure did, Bets."

"Bets? You're calling me Bets now?"

"Well you told me not to call you Betty any more."

Elizabeth Director closed her eyes and counted to ten as she remembered the memo from Shego's therapist. The ex-thief needed ways to express her disdain of authority figures without breaking the law. Demanding she completely stop the inappropriate language might result in repression and possibly even a return of the green woman to crime. Of all the memos Shego had forged on the stolen letterhead from her therapist this was probably her favorite. "Would it do me any good to order you to not call me Bets?"

"I could probably think of something worse."

"Okay, Agent Greene. I want to hear your flimsy excuse for your sorry behavior."

"Shego, not Agent Greene."

"You get your paycheck as Agent Greene. Want me to hold that back?"

"I'm not Agent Greene."

"And I'm not Bets, clear? You may use Betty for this conversation. I don't want to get off the subject. Agent Du charged you with being abusive to Recruit Possible. You admit you called her a maggot?"

"Yep. Sadistic sergeants do it to new recruits all the time. I've seen it in movies. You ride them hard to train them to be tough… They learn their lesson and get out and kill the Germans, or Japanese, or Vietnamese, or somebody. Except in the comedies. Then the noobs band together to torch my room - but at least it teaches them how to work together as a team."

"First, you're not a drill sergeant. Second, you mean to say you're basically modeling your style on movies you've seen?"

"I had Willy here as my instructor when I was a recruit… Well, two of the three times anyway. You don't honestly expect me to use him as a role model do you?"

"It is wrong to abuse GJ recruits."

"I'm just doing it to Kim. I figure it serves as a warning to the others."

"A warning?"

"Yeah."

Betty closed her eyes and counted to ten again. Why was Shego giving instruction to new recruits after failing her own introduction twice? There was some other memo from her therapist, giving her more responsibility would re-enforce positive patterns of behavior. Shego didn't put that forged memo in her top ten, but it was coming in handy now. Betty sighed, at least Shego was only leading the physical training portion of the recruit introduction and none of the procedural classes. "I thought you and Kim made peace a couple years ago when we discovered you… your past."

"Sure did. Made peace with the whole family. Have a standing invitation to go out there any time." She held up her hand with the index and middle fingers crossed, "Like this with the Possibles."

"So why are you giving Kim problems?"

Shego opened her eyes wide and feigned innocence. "You wouldn't want me showing favoritism to her because we're friends now, would you? It wouldn't be fair to the other recruits to treat her like teacher's pet."

"But you are giving her special treatment," Will Du sputtered. "It's bad special treatment, but you're treating her differently from the others."

Shego looked puzzled, "So, you want me to get in close to all their faces and scream at all of them and call them maggots?"

"No! But-"

"But you said I should treat her differently. So I should treat the others the same way I treat her?"

Betty sighed, "You need to ease up. This is not, I repeat, not Marine boot camp. You are trying to prepare them to pass their physicals at the end of the training process, not driving out the weak and training the survivors to eat their own young."

Shego snorted, "Good one, Betty. Don't know why everyone says you don't have a sense of humor."

"Do you understand?"

"Sure, I'm not stupid."

"We'll see about that," Betty muttered. "I swear, there're days I think you're more of danger for Global Justice now than when we were looking for you."

Shego just grinned, "So, am I dismissed? I have things to do tonight."

"I hope review of the training manual is on the list… Yes, you're dismissed."

Kim opened the window in her room in the recruit dorm, and a shadowy figure slipped inside.

"How long were you going to keep me on that ledge?"

"Long conversation at dinner. And I'm a little unhappy with the way you were yelling at me today."

"Come on, Kim, I told you why I had to do that. Agents are not supposed to fraternize with recruits. And that's why I can't be seen going in the door here. You think I like using the window?"

"I just want to know what kind of a rule says you can't fraternize with recruits?"

"Can't trust recruits. For all we know you might be a WEE mole or something. If you pass the training you'll get fully vetted before you become a real agent."

"How hard can it be? You're an agent."

Shego clutched her chest, "That's it, tear my heart out about my evil past. I'm trying hard to be good and–"

"And judging by day's performance you still don't know how to be good."

The green woman raised an eyebrow, "I was under the impression you think I'm _very_ good."

"Maybe. Why don't you drop the theatrics and remind me why I think you're so good."

Shego smiled. The two put their arms around each other. As their lips met Kim thought, _"Out of shape? When I'm done with you tonight you won't be able to leave by the window and you'll be too exhausted to lead a training session tomorrow. But the smile won't come off your face for a week."_

–The End–


End file.
